The Minister for ICT and National Guidance, Chris Baryomunsi, has said President Yoweri Museveni and the National Resistance Movement, has nothing to do with the current divisions and in the Forum for Democratic Change.
This week, a sharp divide happened in the FDC with a group led by the Party Spokesperson and Kira Municipality Member of Parliament, Semmujju Nganda accusing the FDC Party president Patrick Amuriat Oboi and the Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi of pocketing ‘Museveni Money’.
Semujju on Monday with a section of party leaders held a consultative meeting at Sharing Hall in Nsambya where 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. “Planned FDC elections” will have Patrick Amuriat installed as party President and Nandala Mafabi as Secretary General. Flagbearer elections will then be ‘won’ by Nandala who will have a friendly march with Museveni in 2026. Nandala will thereafter hand FDC to Museveni,” Ssemujju said.
Similar sentiments were today re-echoed by FDC Strongman and one of the founding members Kizza Besigye at a press conference held at his offices along Katonga road in Kampala.
“Large sums of money have been coming into our party at every election. You find our delegates coming from upcountry accommodated in big hotels not by the party but candidates. When you take that path, you know you are under state capture,” Besigye said.
He added, “We had several meetings about the suspicious hand I was worried about but they came to nothing. Those who we tasked to give us information instead asked who we are in the party (not members of any organ) and said I had no locus to ask questions.”
However, all allegations were denied by both Amuriat and Mafabi, instead they accused the camp opposing them supporting being in bed with Museveni questioning the levels of wealth they have amassed in a short period of time.
“I have declared all my personal assets with IGG. When I left the bank, I was being paid USD20,000/month. When Semujju left journalism, how much was he being paid? If he has all those properties when he was being paid nothing, what about me who was paid in dollars?” Nandala Mafabi told media at FDC headquarters in Najjanankumbi.
Meanwhile, Baryomunsi in an interview said the narrative that President Museveni and the NRM are in charge of the chaos happening in the FDC is false and misguided.
He asked the FDC to sit down, examine itself and settle its internal squabbles.
“They should do an introspection and look at their own internal mechanisms, and then be able to resolve their own issues without dragging NRM the president into their own problems,” Baryomunsi said.
He added that the NRM government believes in the functioning of democracy and a conducive democratic space.
“We have provided a democratic space that allows all political parties to emerge and function. So, we believe in functioning political parties and opposition political parties. So, it cannot be the same NRM or President Museveni as the Chair and the President to wish for the collapse or the demise of political parties.”
“That is why we took a decision as government to fund political parties that have representation in parliament. Recently, we increased the amount of money that we give. So, if we wanted the parties to die, we would suffocate them but we don’t. So, it is not true that the NRA sponsors conflict in any political party.”
