MONEY, LEADERSHIP WARS SET A FRESH SPLIT WITHIN FDC.
All is not well in the camp of the opposition political party, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
According to the inside source, the party has split into two factions, one headed by the current president, Patrick Oboi Amuriat, and another one by veteran politician, Dr Kizza Besigye Kifefe.
The Amuriat faction has big politicians like Nathan Nandala Mafabi who is the party secretary general and Budadiri East Member of Parliament, Okin P Ojara, member of parliament representing Kitugumu, Attan Moses, former FDC MP candidate Soroti East.
Veteran politician, Dr. Kizza Besigye Kifefe has the majority that includes: Lord Mayer of Kampala city, Erias Lukwago, Kira municipality - Hon. Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda, Soroti district woman MP-Ann Ebaiu Adeke, Hon Mubarak Munyagwa, the former Mp of Kawempe south, Deputy lord mayor, Doreen Nyanjura and many others.
Currently, the Amuriat / Nandala function holds all its party functions meetings, and other official tasks from the Najjanankumbi offices while the k-Besigye/Lukwago function is always holding its meetings and other businesses from Katonga Road in Kampala.
What you need to know:
Senior leaders are also accusing party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and secretary general Nathan Nandala-Mafabi of obtaining an unknown sum of money from questionable sources and also mismanaging the party.
According to four reliable sources who spoke to us on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the subject, trouble started in 2020 when two senior members of the party were allegedly given money by President Museveni that was partly used to run the presidential campaign and that was also partly divided among some senior members.
In 2021, many media houses published a story that Museveni had offered billions of shillings to senior FDC members which was used to run their presidential campaign. When Dr. Besigye got wind of this information, he decided to stay away from campaigning for Amuriat, and up to date, the two are not on good terms with each other.
Since then, the rift between him on one side, and Nandala and Amuriat on the other, has grown so wide that he and other senior leaders are said to be involved in plans to defeat them in the forthcoming party elections that were scheduled to kick off last month.
However, one of our sources told us that the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that sat last month voted to postpone the election for at least another four weeks as the party tries to bridge the differences.
Our source has been tipped off that Dr. Besigye has organized a meeting with his function on Monday next week to regain back his powers and take over FDC again as he plans to run for the presidency in 2026.
We were also reliably informed that the veteran politician has been out of the country on treatment and it is alleged that the expensive treatment was fully sponsored by his wife, Winnie Byanyima, who currently supports the LGBTQ family.
It has also been alleged that his wife has influenced the Western community who are great funders to LGBTQ to strongly fund his man in 2026 since the majority of the NUP members voted yes on the Anti-Homosexuality. It has also been noted that the National Unity platform boss, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu commonly known as Bobi Wine is not on good terms with the Western community ever since the majority of his party members voted yes on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
It is alleged that funders are soon shifting goalposts to fund the veteran politician, Dr. Byesigye since Bobi Wine has been silent on his members who voted yes as far as the Anti-Homosexuality bill is concerned.
There is fear that if the party goes ahead with the election, it might be headed for another split like the one that took place in 2017 when Gen Mugisha Muntu and his supporters left the party to found the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).
“Nandala got a lot of money that FDC used for campaigns. Do you remember those brand-new cars that were used in the campaigns? That is what part of that money was used for and another part was shared among themselves. We have asked him how much money he got, but he doesn’t say. We asked him to explain who was the source of that money, but he kept changing stories. He first said someone lent us the money but when we asked him to disclose the person, he refused, saying that that person asked to be anonymous. Then he turned around and said that person had forgiven us the debt,” one source said.
According to another source who was also granted anonymity to speak freely, party members are also dismayed with the way Nandala is managing other party funds.
“We receive close to Shs 2 billion from the Electoral Commission every year. We don’t know how that money is used. During Maj Gen Muntu’s tenure, even to spend Shs 5 million, he had to first convene a meeting. But Nandala has overrun everything. He recruited Amuriat into his camp because of his financial vulnerability and now they spend party money as they wish,” the source said.
The source added that the duo has also chased from the party headquarters all those with whom they disagree.
“last week we were supposed to have a NEC meeting at the party headquarters but we arrived there when it was surrounded by kanyamas. We spent several hours before we could be allowed to enter. We asked Nandala since when has it been that we first have to ask permission before entering our headquarters?” a source said.
Eventually, when the meeting was allowed to take place, the Nandala group objected to the postponement of the election. Nandala said those who disagree with them should use the coming elections to defeat them.
It should be noted that FDC leadership expired in 2020 and ever since the party has never held elections, sources say, the Amuriat/Nandala function fears going in for an election because they will be kicked out, the elections are from grassroots levels. Political experts claim that if the FDC continues splitting, this gives the National Resistance Movement (NRM) great chances of keeping itself in power and on top of the game.
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