FDC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES
After the successful nomination of two candidates for the party primary to choose a presidential candidate (flag bearer), the FDC has organized sub regional delegates meetings which will commence on Monday September 7th with East Buganda (Mukono, Buikwe, Buvuma and Kayunga).
The two candidates Hon. Patrick Oboi Amuriat and Ambassador Wasswa Birigwa will each be given an opportunity to address the delegates at the sub regional meetings. The FDC management (top leadership) will convene on Wednesday this week to among others agree on the format of the campaigns. The decision to be taken is whether the candidates should jointly address the delegates or each should separately address them.
After East Buganda, the candidates will move to West Buganda (Kassanda, Mubende, Mityana, Kyankwanzi and Kiboga). Then to South Buganda (Lwengo, Kaangala, Bukomansimbi, Masaka, Sembabule, Lyantonde and Kalungu. To North Buganda (Luwero, Nakaseke and Nakasongola) and finally Central Buganda (Gomba, Mpigi and Butambala).
Candidates are required to address issues and not to insult each other. The detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be followed during the campaigns have been issued to each candidate/agent by the FDC Electoral Commission.
The FDC prides herself in internal democracy and we invite all political parties in the country to emulate this good example. This is what we will give our country when the dictator is finally gone. There must be competition and fair one for offices.
Candidates are allowed to hold separate meetings and any other form of interaction with the delegates.
Campaigns will be followed by a delegates’ conference at the beginning of October. Modalties are still being worked out as to which format the delegates’ conference will take due to the selective application of measures to combat Covid 19 pandemic.
The Secretariat has proposed that delegates convene at sub-regional level for purposes of electing the flag bearer, which management and National Executive Committee will discuss.
We also intend to hold a presidential debate later next month. We will inform you of the date in due course. That debate will conclude our campaigns and it will take place here at the headquarters.
PRIMARIES FOR PARLIAMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Primaries for Parliament and Local government are ongoing. We staggered them because of resources and Covid 19 pandemic. We have so far concluded primaries in nearly 90% of electoral areas.
Of course we have received a number of petitions which management and the Electoral Commission will process. Where the process has been fair, the FDC appeals to its members and leaders to accept the outcome. Please don’t seek to stand as independents because this might give the dictator an opportunity to further divide us.
The Secretary General Hon. Nathan Nandala Mafabi, Hon. Jack Sabiiti (elder) and Party President Hon. Eng. Amuriat are in Eastern Uganda for reconciliation and candidates identification. They specifically have visited Kaberamaido, Soroti, Sironko, Mbale, Pallisa, Budaka, Butebo and Kibuku. While in Soroti 15 NRM leaders crossed to FDC led by Mr. Jovans Peter Odikor.
THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC
The FDC would like to reiterate her repeated message to all of you citizens. Covid 19 is real, it is not a hoax. Please wear a mask, wash your hands with soap and try to social distance.
Of course Mr. Museveni and his agents have used the Pandemic to advantage themselves further during the ongoing electoral process. There is absolutely no reason why campaigns are banned. The public should simply be advised to observe the measures like they are doing with everything else.
As FDC we are also saddened to hear that the public will be made to pay for Covid testing. As usual the Museveni regime is walking away from a government responsibility and abandoning it to its vulnerable citizens. Testing and testing and then isolation and treatment are the measures that all sane governments have employed everywhere to curtail the pandemic.
Charging citizens Shs 240,500 for testing is madness to say the least. People who test are not the beneficiary of the testing. It is the public that benefits because that is how victims are identified and isolated to stop the spread. To us as FDC, this new policy by the regime is an admission that it has lost the battle something we always suspected.
If Museveni can find money to buy NRM chairmen bicycles, why can’t he use part of that money for public safety? We have always told you that pursuit of power for the sake of it, is Museveni’s number one agenda.
Hon. Ssemuju Ibrahim Nganda
FDC SPOKESPERSON