The leader of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, Mr. Robert Kyagulanyi, issued a warning to his political opposition counterparts, advising them not to deride the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) during its current internal struggles.
Mr. Kyagulanyi’s comments came as the FDC faced dramatic internal developments, with its divided leaders engaged in a bitter power struggle for the party’s future.
One significant incident involved Mr. Wasswa Birigwa, the party’s national chairman, being forcefully confined within the party’s headquarters in Najjanankumbi, just outside Kampala.
He was violently prevented from holding a scheduled press conference, and a group of thugs, allegedly deployed by unknown parties, attacked journalists on the premises.
Despite the strained relationship between NUP and FDC, Mr. Kyagulanyi urged other opposition groups to learn from the FDC’s current situation rather than celebrating its challenges.
He stressed that fighting a military regime is an arduous task that requires solidarity among opposition parties.
The FDC has been embroiled in internal conflicts for the past two weeks, with senior officials accusing each other of misusing funds from the State House to destabilize the party.
While the ruling National Resistance Movement party is rumored to be pleased with the FDC’s predicament, they have publicly denied involvement in the unrest at Najjanankumbi.
Professor Venansius Baryamureeba, a former vice-chancellor of Makerere University and a one-time presidential candidate who now aligns with the ruling NRM, expressed that the FDC’s current situation was foreseeable.
He asserted that FDC and its estranged child, the Alliance for National Transformation, were on the decline, and recent events confirmed his predictions.
Prof. Baryamureeba also claimed that some FDC officials, including Mr. Ssemujju and Mr. Lukwago, might defect to NUP soon, suggesting that they are creating a pretext for their departure.