Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago is trying to access the party headquarters to attend a crucial meeting today. He is among the senior leaders who have so far had challenges entering the party offices.
Lukwago was stopped at the gate of the offices and instructed to approach it on foot. Several members of his entourage ended up in scuffles with persons manning the entrance, including police officers.
Lukwago later consented to have his car driven to be parked at a distance from the venue of the meeting while he remained behind to address the press.
He decried the angry scenes and described how, “There is a lot of tension as you can see. My security is not guaranteed inside.”
Lukwago is not the only FDC member to have challenges entering his party offices. Several other party members have been denied access to the party’s National Council meeting at the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) headquarters in Najjanankumbi.
This led to tension and chaos.
Prior to the meeting, chaos erupted at the party headquarters.
A group of youths claimed they were trying to remove troublemakers, but were met with resistance by another group within the party offices.
The situation turned violent, resulting in torn clothing and injuries.
The party’s head of security, Sadiq Amin, intervened and a violent altercation ensued. Several people have been injured.
The National Council meeting is seen as crucial to FDC’s future.
It will determine the internal electoral processes that will lead up to the November National Delegates Conference where new leaders, including the party president, will be elected.
However, the elections have become a source of contention.
FDC president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Secretary General Nathan Nandala Mafabi are determined to proceed with the elections, but opposition factions led by FDC vice president for Buganda sub-region, Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and party spokesman Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda have demanded that the party resolves its internal issues before holding any elections.
Ssemujju Nganda has accused Amuriat and Mafabi of doctoring a key report on an alleged multibillion shilling bribery scandal in which they are implicated.
He has called for their immediate resignation, an outcome Amuriat has ruled out even if he is adversely named in the findings.
These allegations of corruption, along with a suspected plot to sell FDC to the ruling party, have been major factors in the ongoing unrest within FDC, contributing to the increasingly bitter power struggle between its leaders.
The situation has been further exacerbated by violence, with Amin reporting that he was attacked and his clothes torn during the altercation with the group of youths.
The violence and instability within the opposition party leave the party’s future uncertain, potentially weakening the opposition’s voice ahead of the 2021 general election.