{UAH} FDC elders call for fresh elections but spare Muntu

FDC elders call for fresh elections but spare Muntu

News

Wednesday, 06 November 2013 08:17

Written by Sadab Kitatta Kaaya

1 Comments

The FDC's Elders Council convenes today in Najjanankumbi for a meeting to discuss the opposition party's strategies leading up to the 2016 elections.

Among the resolutions contained in a report to be presented to the meeting is a call for elections of all party office-bearers except the presidency. The Elders' Council is chaired by former Ruhaama MP Augustine Ruzindana and also includes Bukooli Central MP Wafula Oguttu, Opposition Chief Whip Winfred Kiiza and Soroti Woman MP Angeline Osegge.

"Yes, the report recommends for election of new leaders but that does not include the party president because his mandate is still valid," said a member of the committee yesterday.

The committee was set up by the party's interim National Executive Committee (NEC) to look into FDC affairs, following last year's controversial elections that brought current party president, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu, into office.

The committee had its last meeting on Tuesday and was expected to deal with the issue of harmony between Muntu and Leader of Opposition, Nathan Nandala-Mafabi, arising from the acrimonious election in which both were candidates.

The two officials have since ironed out their differences. Mafabi told us he was already working well with Maj Gen Muntu.

"There is no problem with us. I closed my office in Naguru and I have been attending meetings in Najjanankumbi chaired by Gen Muntu," he said.

The new recommendations differ slightly from an earlier recommendation by the party's Truth and Reconciliation committee headed by Kampala lawyer Ladislaus Rwakafuzi.

The Rwakafuzi committee had called for Muntu to be subjected to a fresh election to address a discrepancy in the party constitution, where the party president serves a five-year term and other leaders four years.

But the elders have opted to exclude the party president from fresh elections.?"It is good if that is the position that the committee has taken because we had previously approved six out of the seven recommendations [by the Rwakafuzi committee] and had failed to agree on this one," said Jack Sabiiti, FDC Treasurer General and Rukiga MP.

According to sources in the party, the committee arrived at this decision after a senior party leader, Dan Wandera Ogalo, raised issues about the legality of the decisions taken on behalf of the party yet none of the current party organs is lawfully constituted.

The report recommends that elections must be held as early as next year. This means that even the NEC meeting scheduled for December cannot make fundamental decisions like reviewing the opposition leadership in parliament. The elections on the other hand would stretch the party's finances, according to officials who admit FDC is cash-strapped.

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