NUP continues to undermine FDC

The Forum for Democratic Change-FDC party has said it was never consulted when the National Unity Platform-NUP was naming some of its Members of Parliament ministers in the shadow cabinet.

This is another time among many where NUP oversteps it's boundaries and undermines FDC by assigning tasks to FDC members without consulting their party.

Since the return of multiparty politics in Uganda in 2006, FDC has been offering parliamentary leadership as a result of having the largest number of MPs in the opposition. However, in the last election, the party managed only 32 MPs against NUP’s 57 hence losing the coveted seat.

NUP is using its numbers advantage in parliament to establish it's dominance over FDC and use her members without the party's consent.

Speaking to journalists , FDC Spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda who also doubles as its whip in parliament said the National Executive Committee of the party had agreed in principle that they would consider a coalition if NUP asked them officially to be part of it something which NUP is not interested in.

The two parties didn't hold any talks  before Friday when the Leader of Opposition in parliament Mathias Mpuuga released a list of his shadow cabinet with names drawn from not only NUP, the party that he belongs to but also other opposition political parties including the FDC.

Among the 30 MPs who were appointed in the shadow cabinet, seven belong to FDC. These include Gilbert Olanya, Adeke Ann Ebaju, Francis Mwijukye, Nyakato Asinasi, Yusuf Nsibambi, Dr Timothy Batuwa, and Atkins Katusabe. But Ssemujju said that he alone cannot decide whether the MPs should take up the appointments.

Joel Ssenyonyi the NUP spokesperson said that they picked individuals not a political party. NUP has many times stated that they're not willing to work with FDC as a party since it is full of friends of Museveni and the ruling NRM.