The highly awaited meeting between officials from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Justice Forum (JEEMA), which had earlier been scheduled for today May 17, to harmonise positions towards a joint candidate in the forthcoming Bugiri Municipality MP elections, has hit a snag.
According to Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat, the FDC party president, JEEMA officials absconded from the meeting at the last minute.
“We are now informed and accordingly wish to inform all stakeholders that JEEMA is not available for the scheduled meeting today. The Forum for Democratic Change remains committed to the discussions and will wait to meet JEEMA at their earliest convenience,” Mr Amuriat said in a statement.
The two sides held a meeting on the same matter on May 9 from the FDC headquarters but failed to reach consensus, prompting them to schedule a follow up meeting today for conclusions.
However, JEEMA spokesperson Mr. Ssentongo Abdulnoor Kyamundu, says that his party is still committed to efforts of having a joint candidate, only that their head of delegation is out of the country but will be available for the talks as soon as he comes back next week.
“Yesterday, the JEEMA head of delegation/chief negotiator, Mr. Kibirige Mayanja Muhammad contacted Eng. Patrick Amuriat, the FDC president and informed him of JEEMA’S inability to attend today’s meeting, since himself and other members of the delegation had travelled out of the country, and were unable to be in the country today for the scheduled talks,” Mr Kyamundu said in an interview with SoftPower News.
JEEMA’s Asuman Basalirwa and FDC strong lady Eunice Namatende have already indicated interest in vying for the seat, but the two opposition parties are still undecided on the candidate to be pulled out of the race to avoid dividing the opposition vote.
On Tuesday May 8, Mr Basalirwa told SoftPower News that there is nothing wrong with FDC featuring a candidate against him even when they are widely seen as long time political partners.
“Nobody is faulting FDC for fronting a candidate, because even in 2016, I competed with an FDC candidate. I don’t want anybody to create an impression that I am at war with FDC,” Basalirwa said.
Bugiri Municipality constituency, formerly Bugiri town council is among the new administrative units in the country which will go for polls in June.