Dr. Kizza Besigye, four-time presidential candidate and founder of the Forum for Democratic Party (FDC), said last evening, on August 10, 2023, while appearing on Twitter spaces hosted by Agather Authaire, that the FDC failed to groom and elect a suitable replacement after him which is causing the current conflicts in the party.
According to Dr. Besigye, he informed the party early enough that he would not stand in 2021 as a presidential candidate; they did not take him seriously and kept pestering him to return as the candidate, which he was not ready to do.
“Party members wasted a lot of time pestering and trying to convince me to run in 2021 and never concentrated on finding a suitable candidate; they waited till it was too late, rushed in, and elected Patrick Amuriat Oboi to just fill the space and please people from the east,” Besigye revealed.
During the Twitter Space, he was asked whether that was the reason he left a weak team behind and never supported Amuriat.
Besigye stated that he has never supported or sided with anyone; he has always put the party first, and that is why, when Amuriat was picked as the next presidential candidate for the party, like he did with Muntu, he did not support him but stayed neutral.
“I have been accused of not liking people from the east, but I did not support Muntu too, yet he is from the west. He was my superior and boss in the army, but I was his boss in politics; I did not see them as strong candidates for the party. That is why I could not fundraise for them, and they let the party down by picking a very weak candidate for 2021, and they know it,” Besigye said.
Besigye’s revelations come at a time when the party is struggling with a number of conflicts, ranging from corruption, bribery accusations, firing of some officials, sending some for disciplinary action, to a failed special elders committee that was formed to reconcile disagreeing parties, to rubbishing its report and claiming the paper it was printed on is not worthy of anyone’s time.
If Besigye’s assumptions are to be believed, then who failed the party in guiding the party into grooming and electing suitable candidates? It can therefore be concluded that Besigye is agreeing to having failed FDC by providing poor leadership, to the point that a suitable candidate after him could not be identified, and rather than accept his shortcomings, he chooses to play the blame game.
