Amuriat out, Lukwago in as FDC President

KAMPALA– The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) National Executive Council has today September 19th 2023, suspended their President Eng Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Secretary General Nandala Mafabi from the party and appointed Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago as the interim party President.

The move was taken today during the extraordinary National Delegates Conference that took place at Katonga offices despite objection by Police thst deployed heavily.

The members also resolved to extend the leadership of the Forum for Democratic Change party organs by another six months from October 8th, 2023.

The meeting was chaired by the Forum for Democratic Change National Chairman Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa, and was attended by the Party Founder President Dr Warren Kizza Besigye and other top FDC leaders.

In the seven resolutions read by Party spokesman Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the party also resolved to put in place an interim electoral commission to hold party elections

They resolved that Mafabi, Amuriat as well as Treasurer General Geoffrey Ekanya be suspended and investigated over their dealings. FDC deputy chairperson Lukwago, deputy treasurer Francis Mwijukye and Harold Kaija, the deputy secretary general, will assume the roles of the suspended officials and the delegates also set aside elections organised by Toterebuka Bamwenda.

This comes a day after court halted the FDC Extra Ordinary Delegates conference.

Earlier, FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda wondered why police was interfering in internal party matters.

“We wrote to them to provide security at our conference and they said they were unable. So we also told them that we don’t need their security. So I wonder what they want,” he told journalists, insisting that the conference will go on.

Mwijukye, the FDC Deputy Treasurer, also said the party’s Extraordinary Delegates Conference would proceed, despite a court injunction.

Mwijukye claimed that the halt to the conference had been premeditated, alleging that the party’s Secretary General, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, and President Patrick Amuriat had actively sought to obstruct the event from the beginning.

The FDC Deputy Treasurer further asserted that the party leadership had found no legal avenue to stop the conference except through obtaining a court injunction.

“The three persons who petitioned the court are Nandala’s personal assistants, and they sued the Secretary General Nandala and President Amuriat. The same individuals who are against the delegates conference, it was clear collusion,” Mwijukye claimed.

Mwijukye also alleged a potential conflict of interest, stating that Justice Esther Nambayo, who handled a record nine cases concerning the FDC, including the injunction against the Extraordinary Delegates Conference, is Nandala’s niece.

Speaking in a television interview on Monday, September 18, Birigwa wondered why Nandala Mafabi and Patrick Amuriat are rushing to block the delegates’ conference he called. Amuriat and Mafabi have disassociated themselves from the conference, saying it was not planned or budgeted for by the party.