The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which was once the biggest opposition party in Uganda, in a bid to revive its past glory, started a leadership academy. The lack of elaborate leadership mechanisms greatly affected its growth and led to its disintegration and the birth of other political parties like the ANT and PFT.
According to the FDC youth wing, the academy has come at a time when there is a leadership deficit in FDC, the quality of leaders they have in the party is wanting, there is a lack of inspiration, poor accountability, no ideology, and significant infighting.
“The lack of mentorship, poor party structures, coaching, and inspiration are accountable for the poor leadership the party is grappling with,” stated the FDC youth.
They further revealed that the youth are the backbone of the party, as demonstrated in the previous elections, but due to the infighting amongst the top leadership, there are gaps and serious challenges when it comes to governance.
“We want to use the academy to provide and shape the party by closing the gaps between the youth and the leadership and increasing youth women’s and PWDs’ participation,” revealed the FDC youth organizer.
However, according to Nandala Mafabi, the academy can only register results if there is a change in the current party leadership and the ushering in of new, fresh ideas and not riding on the old, worn out leaders.
“The ideas and intentions of the academy are good, but its success depends on the old team bowing out and letting new leaders take on the party, which is not going to happen anytime soon,” said Mafabi.
According to Joshua Bagala, a political analyst, the academy is most likely than not to fail if the leadership is not changed.
“FDC has experienced a lot of divisions and break-aways. The evaluation questionnaires circulated to all youth participants have revealed a lack of trust in the top leadership. I strongly doubt if the academy will have any significant impact,” Bagala said.
The academy meant to revive the party’s former glory has been cast with a shadow of doubt and whether or not it will work, only time will tell.