{UAH} Pojim/WBK: Why FDC MPs broke ranks with Besigye

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/40162-why-fdc-mps-broke-ranks-with-besigye

Why FDC MPs broke ranks with Besigye

Written by Benon Herbert Oluka

Last Updated: 30 September 2015

After the founding president of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Dr Kizza Besigye, declared in late 2011 that he was stepping down from the position, there was an acrimonious campaign within the party that eventually led to the election of Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu.

That campaign split the party into two camps, led respectively by Muntu and his challenger for the job, Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala-Mafabi. Post-that-election, senior FDC officials tried to heal the wounds by opening channels for the two party leaders to reconcile. However, the wounds didn't heal – to this day.

Instead, if the sentiments of the FDC politicians who plan to support former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi for the presidency rather than Besigye, their flag bearer, are anything to go by, then those wounds are only getting worse.

On Saturday, The Observer reported that at least 15 FDC MPs, and others from the wider opposition, could support Mbabazi's presidential bid. Those named included Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri), Francis Epetait (Ngora), Kassiano Wadri (Terego) and Beatrice Atim Anywar (Kitgum Woman). Others, from the wider opposition, included Medard Sseggona (Busiro East) and Mathias Mpuuga (Masaka municipality).

Even members of the pro-Muntu camp, who don't identify with the Mbabazi presidential bid, such as FDC vice president Alice Alaso, have an axe to grind with the Nandala- Mafabi camp. Alaso is currently camped in her Serere constituency, where her Woman MP seat is threatened by an opponent that

Nandala has allegedly "planted" to uproot her from Parliament altogether. In the Teso sub-region alone, there are complaints by FDC MPs such as Angelinne Osegge (Soroti Woman), Ekwau Ibi Florence (Woman MP Kaberamaido), Stephen Ochola (Serere county) and Dr Francis Epetait (Ngora) that Nandala is masterminding efforts to ensure they do not return to Parliament.

"I have heard that they are fielding a candidate against me in the primaries but I really don't care," said Osegge. "It is not something I want to put my energies in. If it is true, I am not afraid of primaries."
'BESIGYE FAILED US'

The Woman MP for Kitgum district, Beatrice Anywar, told The Observer that after the Nandala camp – which Besigye was silently backing – lost that election, they hounded members of the Muntu camp ostensibly to undermine his leadership.

"Besigye failed us," says Anywar. "He went behind Nandala and belittled Muntu, disturbed Muntu, who has built for us the structures; a gentleman, a principled man, a man of integrity. Muntu is a leader. Uganda has missed a leader."

Betty Anywar campaigning for Besigye in 2011

On Saturday, when asked whether he feels unsettled that part of FDC and the opposition are unlikely to support him in the 2016 presidential race, Dr Besigye told The Observer that it could mean that either there is no organisational discipline or the individuals have their own motivations for doing so.

"If there is an FDC person who doesn't feel comfortable supporting the flag bearer that was democratically chosen, it goes back to the type of parties we have. It means that person either lacks organisational discipline or is indeed motivated by other things other than what our party is all about.

And there are all kinds of motivations, especially for our political leaders. It's not only about elections; I think you know that, for example, government has been bribing our [opposition] MPs with money out of nowhere. Some of our MPs returned the money; others didn't feel inclined to.

So, it depends on personal circumstances. I think it would be simply inconceivable on our side to expect that all people will behave in the same way in all circumstances," he said. 
NANDALA RECOVERY

Some three years after losing to Muntu, Nandala's camp would regain some of the party leadership ground they lost when he was elected as the party's secretary general, replacing Alaso. According to Alaso, the signs of what was to come were evident at the delegates' conference in Namboole, when she was almost roughed up.

"I was really harassed at some point by the delegates' conference; these hooligans that they bring to the party [conference] almost beat me up," said Alaso, who has since decided to keep a low profile within the party.

Anywar said that having supported and been "ready to die" for Besigye right from the Reform Agenda days in the early 2000s, she had expected that the three-time presidential candidate would have been open to advancing the interests of the party by being open to a new leadership.

"Of course people have been saying Dr Besigye has stood three times and for one reason or another, even if he was cheated, the circumstances wouldn't allow him to break through. It is like a penalty.

If you gave your team member to shoot the penalty three times and he is shooting out, you keep on trying among your team members. It doesn't make him less of a member. So for us, some of us, we opted for Muntu because we expected him to get another trial to shoot the penalty," she explained.

With Besigye still enjoying popular support within the party, the ideals held by the likes of Anywar did not take root. For a second time, Besigye defeated Muntu in the quest to find a party flag bearer. Muntu accepted defeat and declared he would back Besigye.

However, Team Muntu is not happy with the way the Besigye/Nandala camp behaved when they got to The Democratic Alliance (TDA). Anywar says Besigye exhibited double standards with regard to the treatment of Mbabazi.

"You welcome somebody into the TDA and say, 'come and we play fair." But then in the middle of it you say, 'no. I think you are not supposed to be here'. Therefore, I am very disappointed that we played double standards. We did not stick to the principles of the TDA," she said.

The view within FDC that Besigye did not act in good faith within TDA is shared by Ngora MP Epetait.

"In my opinion, Besigye's position was that either he wins or all others lose. That is how I know him. How do you negotiate with somebody with that kind of view?" he asked. "I hope Besigye will get to realise that the situation at the end of the day required a combined force. I know he will get to realise it."
DOUBLE STANDARDS

Anywar says similar double standards are evident in the party's primaries. The pro-Muntu supporters feel they are being undermined.

"Right now Nandala is putting opponents against the Muntu team. They are creating parallel structures. Is that the FDC they want us to be in?" she asked, adding: "The person who is going to break FDC is Nandala."

When contacted for his response to the claims, MP Nandala described them as "lame excuses" by politicians who fear subjecting themselves to the democratic process.

"The truth is that if there are those areas where there is competition, they should not assume it is my doing. They are not the first MPs to face competition. Even me, the secretary general, I have a competitor. In democracy, we cannot block anybody. If they are not popular, they should not tie it on me," he explained.

According to Nandala, he has only occupied the secretary general's office for three months and could not be "planting" candidates when he is still learning about the job.

Nandala added that if any member of the pro-Muntu legislators has any issues, they should raise them with the FDC's National Executive Committee (NEC), where all MPs are members and can speak for themselves.

The FDC vice president for northern Uganda, Reagan Okumu, however, acknowledges that there is a split within the country's leading opposition party. He is, however, confident that healing will come with time.

"You should know that it takes time to heal. There are some people who had too much to lose in the two different candidates camps and it will take time for them to heal," he said.

According to Okumu, the Aswa County MP, Muntu has already shown leadership by saying he intends to back Besigye in the presidential campaigns. He argues that the MPs who support him should fall in line and do the same.

"What matters is, if your leader comes and says, 'I concede. This is the path you should now be taking; let's now work with the party,'" he said. "Gen Muntu is the one who conceived this idea of a two-pronged approach. Don't be surprised when you see MPs from FDC, DP, etc, walking shoulder to shoulder with Amama but at the same time they are walking shoulder to shoulder with Besigye."
hobenon@observer.ug

Why FDC MPs broke ranks with Besigye

http://www.observer.ug/news-headlines/40162-why-fdc-mps-broke-ranks-with-besigye

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