Joyce Namugambe
The opposition party Forum for Democratic Change has today dismissed allegations from the Party spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemuju Nganda that the party president has plans to sell the Party to the ruling NRM party in exchange for money.
This follows allegations from Hon. Ssemuju Nganda that according to his observations, the party president Patrick Amuriate Oboi together with the party secretary General Hon. Nathan Nandala Mafabi are in collaboration with the Nrm president behind the curtains.
Addressing the media at party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, the party Secretary General Hon. Nathan Nandal Mafabi started by saying.”
“I greet and thank you for making time off your busy schedules to be here with us here today for this press briefing.
“On Monday this week, a section of our members, during what they termed as a consultative meeting in Nsambya, made various attacks towards us as leaders of the FDC. This is the reason why we decided, as accountable leaders to come out here today and offer the true line of the story.
“These attacks on the President, Hon. Patrick Amuriat and myself as Secretary General did not start on Monday. For a while now, we have faced constant attacks, blackmail and propaganda by people who do not wish FDC well but are driven by selfish ambitions for power and the prospect of getting rich by assuming leadership of the party.
These group of people have made it their mission to bring us down, in the end tarnishing the image of the party they profess to be part of.
“The FDC has got a very robust conflict management system through which we resolve issues without necessarily affecting our cohesion. On many occasions using these systems and mechanisms, we have tried to bring our brothers on table to understand what their grievances are and address them inhouse. This is what is expected of a reputable political organization.
“We were however shocked with the wild allegations which were said during the Nsambya meeting.
“The whole discussion during the Nsambya meeting and previous attacks are anchored on falsehoods and a very dangerous ploy to damage the reputations we have built over a very long time which is very painful!
“Hon. Ssemujju Nganda, the Lord Mayor and others have continuously peddled claims that we received large sums of money from President Museveni (what they called unknown sources) to hand over FDC to him. This is pedestrian thinking from this faction. FDC is a political party with structures and stakeholders, it is not a personal property that you just hand over to anyone.
Secondly, “he who alleges must prove”, why can’t they lay evidence on table for all to see.
Hon. Ssemujju and others have also claimed I made a deal with President Museveni to hand over FDC in exchange for the Bank of Uganda Governor job. I respond by saying, my qualifications, experience and expertise are very sufficient to have that position.
However, no one has ever approached me with that offer. I am also not interested in working with President Museveni. Whoever is saying that is peddling falsehoods for their personal reasons.
They alleged that we used the “mysterious money” to procure vehicles for the 2021 general elections. These vehicles were paid for over a period of time, rather than by a single deposit.
These attacks are glaringly deliberately to derail us so that Hon. Ssemujju and his clique have their way in taking over the party for their selfish ambitions. This, armed with the power of the FDC members shall not allow it to happen.
Like we mentioned earlier, Hon. Ssemujju’s clique has made allegations without providing any evidence despite constant requests to submit the same. If this is not malice, what is it?
As human beings, we are tempted to follow the path they have taken in the past months of maligning us. However, as seasoned, respectable leaders, we shall not.
We have however decided to share something for you all to appreciate of the person and character of Hon. Semujju Nganda in fraudulently drawing public funds in millions of shillings for activities he never undertakes. Let us also go back to the memory lane.
“During the 2006, 2011 and 2016 general elections, Dr. Kiiza Besigye as a presidential candidate was funded. We also went ahead and funded all the activism activities. All these were in billions of shillings but no one ever dared to inquire into the source of the money. We sourced for these funds legally and made these activities possible.
In 2021 when Hon. Amuriat contested, we did the same sourcing of funds and made the campaigns possible. Why then is it a problem now when Hon. Amuriat is in the picture, but was never an issue then when we had Dr Kiiza Besigye as our presidential candidate?
Hon. Ssemujju Nganda is the biggest beneficiary of Government money. He is a Chief Whip who is entitled to a government car. The same person received money for vehicles like other Members of Parliament. Why didn’t he return the money given to him for the vehicle?
In all his previous campaigns, Hon Ssemujju has used huge sums of money in his campaigns putting up very expensive billboards, did you bother to find out the sources of his funding?
Lord Mayor Lukwago, the other instigator of turmoil was paid over 500m from government as a court reward. Many Ugandans who have had similar court victories have not been paid. Can President Museveni allow for such payments if he has no interest in a person like the Lord Mayor?
I have a document here detailing the criminality and fraud that has been perpetuated by Hon Ssemujju Nganda over the years. We had chosen to be silent about it hoping that the government agencies charged with this oversight would deal with it.
I will distribute this document to you for your own independent analysis. However what’s glaring is the running fraud being perpetuated by and for the sole benefit of Ssemujju and his family.
You can see many instances in the course of the last six months alone where Ssemujju has drawn public funds in hundreds of millions when he’s in two, sometimes three different places at same time within Uganda and sometimes outside as in the cases of (Juba, Nairobi, Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Algiers).
I bring this to public attention so that you judge for yourselves who has been or is indeed telling the truth about corruption, transparency and accountability.
Apart from his lies deliberately made for character assassination Ssemujju Nganda has no moral authority to question anyone over morality and we challenge him and his group of political pretenders to come clean over these documents I have tabled before the public today.
I have declared what I possess in terms of personal assets, business and how I gained them. I challenge Hon Ssemujju to do likewise. He is free to run for FDC Secretary General position in a fair contest. What he cannot get away with, is to try and tilt the playing field in his favour by character assassinating his supposed opponent. Note: I am an international financial consultant who has worked with a number of projects locally and international such as World Bank
As I conclude, I would like to remind you that FDC believes in the democratic processes and this is the reason why an electoral road map has been drawn to renew party structure leadership through election. This fraction of leaders will not derail us from achieving this.” Nadala emphasized.
