Newly appointed FDC party whip Yusuf Nsibambi has pledged to spearhead the party’s parliamentary caucus intervention in the ongoing party wrangles.
Nsibambi, who is the Mawokota South MP, was on Monday appointed Party Whip in Parliament after the FDC’s Secretary General, Nandala Mafabi, dropped Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda.
“…I am deeply involved and concerned with what is going on [in FDC] and I am going to do my best to bring reconciliation,” Nsibambi told journalists at Parliament on Tuesday, 08 August 2023.
“I have accepted this responsibility; it is not an easy position given the circumstances but we have the duty and responsibility to galvanise our party,” he added.
FDC Party Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi in an August 7th, 2023 letter to the Speaker of Parliament, announced that he was replacing Ssemujju.
“In the same vein, we hereby withdraw Hon. Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda as the Party Whip with immediate effect,” reads the letter in part.
The letter is copied to the deputy speaker, the FDC party president, Patrick Amuriat Oboi, Ssemujju Nganda, and Yusuf Nsibambi.
The decision is said to have been made by the Party working committee, which is comprised of the executive.
He quoted section 6j (1) of the Administration of Parliament (Amendment )Act 2006 which states that a party in opposition may appoint its chief whip.
The changes come amidst a crisis in the party emanating from allegations that Nandala brought “dirty” money into the opposition party from the ruling National Resistance Movement-NRM with the intention of selling it to the NRM.
The allegations first made public by Ssemujju originated from FDC founding president, Dr Kiiza Besigye who says that he received information in 2020 that Nandala had received Money from the state House. The information reached Besigye two weeks after Nandala had entrusted him with 300 million Shillings and gave another 280 million Shillings to the party president Eng Patrick Oboi Amuriat.
The allegations prompted the party’s National Council to form a committee of elders to investigate the matter.
However, the committee in its report didn’t focus on Investigating the source of the money and under what conditions it was received. Rather, the Dr. Frank Nabwiso-led committee focused on reconciling Besigye, and Nandala.
Besigye dismissed the report for failing to investigate the key issues regarding money and rather dwelt on reconciling him and Nandala yet, as he says, he has no personal vendetta against him. Ssemujju could not be reached for comment by the time of publishing the story since he didn’t pick up our calls to his personal number.
