KAMPALA – Police have deployed heavily at FDC offices at Katonga in Kampala as well as at Nature’s Green Beach Resort, Busabala, so as to block the FDC delegates’ conference called by party chairman Wasswa Birigwa.
This comes a day after court halted the FDC Extra Ordinary Delegates conference.
On Tuesday morning, several policemen could be seen at the FDC offices at Katonga where some delegates from upcountry are gathered and spent the night before planning to proceed to Busabala.
FDC party spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda wondered why police in party internal matters.
“We wrote to them to provide security at our conference and they said they were unable. So we also told them that we don’t need their security. So I wonder what they want,” he told journalists, insisting that the conference will go on.
Francis Mwijukye, the Deputy Treasurer of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), also said the party’s Extraordinary Delegates Conference in Busabala would proceed, despite a court injunction.
Mwijukye claimed that the halt to the conference had been premeditated, alleging that the party’s Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, and President Patrick Amuriat had actively sought to obstruct the event from the beginning.
“Going back to the history of this delegates conference, Nandala called it illegal on the basis of not being consulted even before the court did. They spoke openly and said it won’t happen and then wrote to the police.” Mwijukye stated.
The FDC Deputy Treasurer further asserted that the party leadership had found no legal avenue to stop the conference except through obtaining a court injunction.
“The three persons who petitioned the court are Nandala’s personal assistants, and they sued the Secretary General Nandala and President Amuriat. The same individuals who are against the delegates conference, it was clear collusion,” Mwijukye claimed.
Mwijukye also alleged a potential conflict of interest, stating that Justice Esther Nambayo, who handled a record nine cases concerning the FDC, including the injunction against the Extraordinary Delegates Conference, is Nandala’s niece.
Speaking in a television interview on Monday, September 18, Birigwa wondered why Nandala Mafabi and Patrick Amuriat are rushing to block the delegates’ conference he called. Amuriat and Mafabi have disassociated themselves from the conference, saying it was not planned or budgeted for by the party.
According to party insiders, the Birigwa-led faction seeks to use the delegates conference to pass a vote of no-confidence in Amuriat and Mafabi and then elect new leaders.
This is after accusing the duo of hobnobbing with the ruling party with a view to “selling off the party”.
