The Secretary General for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Nandala Mafabi has described the recent accusations against him and the Party President Patrick Amuriat Oboi as blackmail and propaganda.
He says the allegations against them are being spread by the people who do not wish the FDC well.
On Monday this week, a section of FDC leaders led by the Party Spokesperson Ibrahim Semujju Nganda, held a consultative meeting in Nsambya, where several accusations were made towards Mafabi, Amuriat and other leaders.
He claimed that Mafabi is being used by president Museveni to destroy the FDC.
“Nandala wants these elections to happen so that he can quickly take over the FDC and then load it on the pickup and take it to State House, we are going to reveal all their dealings with the NRM at this meeting, we shall tell all leaders about their behaviour,” Semujju said.
However, addressing the press at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, Mafabi said attacks from Nganda and his group are driven by selfish ambitions for power and the prospect of getting rich by assuming leadership of the party.
He noted that the group has made it their mission to bring them down, in the end tarnishing the image of the party they profess to be part of.
“The FDC has got a very robust conflict management system through which we resolve issues without necessarily affecting our cohesion. On many occasions using these systems and mechanisms, we have tried to bring our brothers on table to understand what their grievances are and address them inhouse. This is what is expected of a reputable political organization.
We were, however, shocked with the wild allegations which were uttered during the Nsambya meeting,” Mafabi said.
He noted that the whole discussion during the Nsambya meeting and previous attacks are anchored on falsehoods and a very dangerous ploy to damage the reputations they have built over a very long time.
He said that Ssemujju Nganda, the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago and others have continuously peddled claims that they received large sums of money from President Museveni (what they called unknown sources) to hand over FDC to him.
He described the claims as pedestrian thinking.
“FDC is a political party with structures and stakeholders, it is not a personal property that you just hand over to anyone.”
“Secondly, “he who alleges must prove”, why can’t they lay evidence on table for all to see.
Hon. Ssemujju and others have also claimed I made a deal with President Museveni to hand over FDC in exchange for the Bank of Uganda Governor job. I respond by saying, my qualifications, experience and expertise are very sufficient to have that position. However, no one has ever approached me with that offer,” he explained.
Mafabi rather said that Ssemujju is the biggest beneficiary of Government money, explaining, “he is a Chief Whip who is entitled to a government car. The same person received money for vehicles like other Members of Parliament. Why didn’t he return the money given to him for the vehicle?”
He accused Semujju of using huge sums during his previous campaigns, putting up very expensive billboards, with no clear source of his funding?
On Lord Mayor Lukwago, he noted that he was paid over 500m from government as a court reward.
“Many Ugandans who have had similar court victories have not been paid. Can President Museveni allow for such payments if he has no interest in a person like the Lord Mayor?,” he questioned.
Mafabi also noted that the group didn’t support the party leaders during the 2021 general elections calling them hypocrites.