{UAH} Pojim/WBK: HOW TDA FELL APART
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HOW TDA FELL APART
Written by SADAB KITATTA KAAYA & SULAIMAN KAKAIRE
Democratic Alliance officials sad and disappointed at failing to agree a joint candidate. But they hope that Besigye and Mbabazi – in their separate ways – will force Museveni into a rerun.
TDA's plan had been to make the 2016 elections a titanic contest between two men: Yoweri Museveni and a joint opposition presidential candidate. In the end, this idea was destroyed by the intractable battle between TDA's two 'big' men, as SADAB KITATTA KAAYA & SULAIMAN KAKAIRE report.
After four meetings in 10 days and a final eight hours of talks on Wednesday, the opposition Democratic Alliance (TDA) failed to pick a consensus presidential candidate and, instead, found themselves boxed into two camps. One loudly backed FDC flag bearer Kizza Besigye, the other rallied behind former prime minister Amama Mbabazi.
The Observer understands that during the final talks at TDA offices in Naguru on Wednesday, most members of the TDA Summit, the topmost organ, preferred Mbabazi to be the joint candidate. But with consensus as the agreed method of choosing the candidate, the only hope was for one candidate to stand down. Neither did.
FDC was backed by the Conservative party (CP), which argued that Mbabazi couldn't be trusted because he leads an amorphous group (Go Forward Pro-Change), which has no structures and constitution.
"Who vetted Amama Mbabazi to stand in this election?" John Ken Lukyamuzi, the CP president, asked during a press interview.
Lukyamuzi and FDC chairman Wasswa Biriggwa stormed out of the meeting that went on till after midnight. Both men told journalists that with the split, what is left for the opposition groups under TDA is to cooperate at a different level.
"The opposition is the causation of the crumbling of the Museveni–Mbabazi relationship, we, therefore, own the struggle to reform this society democratically, and we should dictate a flag bearer," Lukyamuzi said.
Separately, Biriggwa told journalists that FDC couldn't trust Mbabazi because he was not part of the opposition.
"He doesn't share our principles, we as FDC wanted someone who represents the rule of law, corruption-free…but Mbabazi didn't embody those," Biriggwa said.
Before they disagreed, both Besigye and Mbabazi were given 20 minutes to convince the summit that one of them was the best choice for a joint presidential candidate. Besigye made his case first at 3:50pm and immediately left for "another crucial and important meeting."
Mbabazi left after two-and-half hours at 6:20pm. He left a stormy debate in his wake. Inside the meeting, the FDC charges fought tooth and nail to avoid a vote on the two candidates.
They insisted that the Summit should stick to the principle of consensus to select the candidate. Rukungiri municipality MP Roland Mugume Kaginda also walked into the TDA office to lobby for the same position.
He later told journalists that he had tabled a petition signed by 15 FDC MPs demanding that the joint candidate should be chosen by general consensus among the four contenders. But some FDC MPs disowned the petition.
ONE MISSION
From the three-paragraph joint press statement issued at the end of the Summit meeting, it was clear why Besigye's team was opposed to a vote. Besides the FDC and CP votes, Besigye's other vote would have come from PNU secretary general Ibrahim Nsamba who reportedly opposed his boss former vice president Prof Gilbert Baalibaseka Bukenya's support for Mbabazi.
"It is, therefore, clear that the membership of the alliance will take different paths in respect to the matter of a presidential candidate," said the joint statement read by TDA spokesman Wafula Oguttu.
After Oguttu's statement, each group in TDA took turns to vent its frustration at failing to reach a consensus on a presidential candidate.
"We arrived at a point where we had to recognize that our approaches differ, despite our efforts to move together, the honest thing to do was to say, yes we follow two different paths, but we are not enemies," said UPC faction leader, Olara Otunnu. "There is no acrimony, no calling names and no quarreling. Our target remains the same; the removal of the Museveni regime."
DP president general Norbert Mao said their decision had subjected both Besigye and Mbabazi to some sort of a referendum for Ugandans to determine which of the two men best represents their desire for change in the country's leadership.
From their statements, they attempted to paint a picture of an opposition united behind two friendly fronts but, on the inside, there are voices that hint at a total collapse.
To salvage the TDA's reputation, the Summit took more than half an hour working on a statement that would carry a message of unity and continued relevance of TDA.
FDC president Mugisha Muntu and DP president Norbert Mao were bolder in their statements. They registered their sadness that after three years of interaction as political parties and civil society groups, they could not achieve their main objective of presenting a united force against Museveni.
Godber Tumushabe, the coordinator of TDA's operations said: "This is just lousy but it would also be naïve to think that this was not going to happen. If you look at the previous alliance [Inter-Party Cooperation, IPC], egos and interests played a big role in its failure. This was no exception either."
Tumushabe said the politicians involved in the process of deciding a joint candidate put their interests ahead of the national interests.
"What we have been struggling with has been how you make politicians put the national interests ahead of theirs. But, this effort failed since in the end the politicians decided to prioritize their interests," he said.
HOSTAGE
Justice Forum president, Asuman Basalirwa, the chairperson of the TDA committee in charge of campaign strategy and coordination, said the reason why the joint candidate project failed boils down to extremism amongst the pro-Besigye forces.
"I do not think Dr Besigye is the problem but he is hostage to the extremist opposition supporters who think it is the traditional opposition that should lead the struggle against Museveni," Basalirwa said.
Besigye has been the most successful opposition leader, his highest moment coming in 2006, when he won 37 per cent of the vote in an election widely seen as neither free nor fair. However, according to Basalirwa, this should not mean that Besigye is the only viable leader of the unfinished revolution he launched with his 1999 critique of the NRM.
"At all stages of a political struggle there is need to refresh ideas and strategy," Basalirwa said. "They could be right but it is also important not to close our eyes to the realities of the day. Just imagine if Besigye had not been embraced by the traditional opposition."
BIGGER PARTY
Tumushabe, however, argues that these disagreements are inevitable.
"The whole effort we were involved in was the management of these disagreements… But I think that individual interests prevailed," he said.
The possibility of a joint candidate always had a too-good-to-be-true feel to it, especially once Mbabazi came into the picture. Ultimately, it turned out to be an impracticable ideal. With opinion in TDA seemingly tilted in Mbabazi's favour, meetings were held in the hope of persuading Besigye to stand down.
Instead, Besigye suggested that the people who had supported him and his party could simply not trust Mbabazi, who, officially, only declared his presidential aspirations in June. Besigye, we have been informed, held a series of meetings to galvanise his party's support.
One such meeting was held on Tuesday at Besigye's private office on Plot 6 Katonga road in Kampala and was mainly attended by FDC MPs. Out of the meeting, politicians agreed not to accept a Mbabazi candidature.
"FDC is our mother party, we can't lose…" said Mugume.
Interestingly, at the same time, another set of FDC MPs sat at Fairway hotel, a few metres from Besigye's office, planning to promote the Mbabazi candidature. But Francis Mwijukye, an aide to Besigye, told The Observer that all FDC MPs are bound by the party's position.
"There is no way you can claim to be FDC when you don't support the flag bearer; they [the MPs] are bound by collective responsibility," Mwijukye said on Wednesday.
WAY FORWARD
With two candidates, both backed by TDA, Tumushabe is worried about the future of the alliance.
"The idea is that if you have two candidates, that is more or less like what led to the formation of the alliance. The idea was to have one candidate all through. So, the moment you fail at the top, that failure will trickle downwards. I think that it is going to be difficult to field joint candidates at the parliamentary and other levels," he said.
Tumushabe also worries about how TDA will coordinate the campaigns of the two candidates both fronted by the alliance.
"This is a different strategy…we need to discuss how it will be done," he said.
Early this week TDA's committee in charge of strategy had recommended that it is not viable to front two candidates. However, proponents of the two-candidate strategy argue that if Mbabazi rallies his admirers who would never vote Besigye, and Besigye marshals his supporters who do not understand Mbabazi, the two men could yet stretch Museveni, the NRM man.
sadabkk@observer.ug
skakaire@observer.ug
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Comments
the excuse of rigging as a way to the rostrum is partially expunged
That is why I oppose Mbabazi to become the nomination of the opposition. He is a COPYCAT of M7, a power maniac, corrupt to the core and doesn't respect the rule of law.
He is the architect of the system that is corrupt and lawless. He spent 30 years building nothing but a corrupt and lawless system, therefore we don't need someone with such a record to lead us.
It would be like jumping from a flying pan and deliberately and intentionally fall into fire.
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