By Mulengera Reporters
Having first become MP in 2016 when he unexpectedly defeated junior Finance Minister Fred Omach, FDC strongman Emmanuel Ongiertho is currently serving his 2nd term as Jonam County MP. And he actually is one of the very few MPs FDC still has from West Nile.
As we all now know, FDC is one party which has lately been struggling through a turbulent period with faction and clique formation being the order of the day as SG Nandala Mafabi and Party President Patrick Oboi Amuriat keep ganging up against many other senior party leaders who have since established themselves at Katonga Road in Nakasero under the leadership of Erias Lukwago as their interim President.
Dr. Kizza Besigye, who Ongiertho says inspired him into opposition politics, is equally with the Erias Lukwago group having politically written off POA and Nandala as very inept ‘political merchants’ determined to sell off what remains of the FDC Party to money man Gen YK Museveni.
Ongiertho now says that much as he has sympathies for the Semujju Nganda/Lukwago group, time has come for him to create more political alliances for the benefit of his Jonam people (marginalised since independence) since the POA-Nandala duo is very untrustworthy people with whom he can never do any business in the political arena. He says even when he is open to his FDC party having a formal cooperation or relationship with Gen Museveni’s government (like Mao did), he is totally uncomfortable going under the leadership of POA and Nandala.
He says the two are very untruthful political actors who recently organised kiwaani party elections by sending a lot of money to FDC party chairpersons in the districts who ended up chewing it alone to the total exclusion of other FDC party members. That this has created more animosity and chaos among the FDC fraternity in the districts.
Ongiertho (who says he isn’t scared of haranguing by Ugandans on social media) adds that he will never forgive the POA-Nandala duo for the deliberate lies their camp for years kept telling against humility-filled Gen Mugisha Muntu who they had been portraying as a mole only for them to end up being bigger 5th columnists operating from inside FDC than Gen Muntu they were accusing.
As a way forward, the unrepentant Ongiertho has gone public about his hitherto secretive dealings with Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba whose MK Movement has become synonymous with being Uganda’s “Standby Generator” in as far as the inevitable political transition from Gen Museveni to another leader is concerned.
Ongiertho says he wants to prove that it’s possible to work with Gen MK (who he has been meeting with regularly since their first meeting of 14th August) without antagonising the existence of the FDC Party which he now says he can do without given the chaos and embarrassment Nandala Mafabi and POA have occasioned.
Ongiertho says there is no risk in falling out with FDC or even abandoning it altogether anymore, because in the politics of Pakwach and the broader West Nile where he hails from, the party needs him more than he personally needs it for future political survival.
He says he has been meeting Gen MK and there is no one who will ever stop that from happening because the serving UPDF General is a peaceful Ugandan who is also development-oriented. His departure will no doubt hurt the FDC more in the West Nile sub region where it has previously lost many other big-name cadres like Kassiano Wadri, Alex Onzima, John Arumadri (RIP) and Christine Abia just to mention a few.
In the current scheme of things for the opposition, Ongiertho is politically cracking months after two other opposition MPs came out and defended their right to cozy up to and politically work with Gen MK. These are Bukoto South’s Twaha Kagabo and Njeru Municipality’s Jimmy Lwanga. They both belong to Uganda’s leading opposition party NUP headed by Bobi Wine Kyagulanyi Sentamu.
UPCOMING BARAZAS:
Away from the opposition MPs drowning into the MK Movement momentum, insiders in the Standby Generator group have continued moving across the country while inciting voters to demand for better from those currently holding public office. This has created pressure for MPs from both NRM and Opposition.
Whereas many NRM MPs cried out during their most recent retreat at Kyankwanzi where they begged Gen Museveni to come to their rescue and shield them against MK Movement-affiliated activism that is awakening masses in their constituencies, some of the opposition MPs have reacted by quietly reaching out to Gen MK who asserts he is here to work with all Ugandans and leaders regardless of party affiliation.
The group quietly moving around addressing small groups (to build on the momentum the MK BD parties generated) comprises of David Kabanda, Balaam Barugahara and Igara East MP Micheal Mawanda who is both a CEC member and head of the disciplinary committee of the MK Movement. The Mawanda entourage has so far been to Ankole, Kasese for Rwenzori and more recently East and Northern parts of Uganda.
While in these regions, they appear on scheduled radio talkshows besides privately meeting up with MK Coordinators and volunteers in those Cities and sub regions. The Coordinators’ meetings are used to determine the messaging for the subsequent radio talkshows which are used to register Gen MK’s solidarity with the people regarding social justice and service delivery grievances the local people in that sub region might be having against the government of the day.
In Kasese, Kabanda and Mawanda appeared on radio talkshows which they used to register Gen MK’s concern and remorsefulness over the injustices the Omusinga/area King has endured since the 2016 violence that was visited on his Palace in Kasese. MK, it was announced, will be visiting the Omusinga at his Palace in Kasese in the not so distant future.
They also castigated the governors of Uganda over the mass unemployment and poor state in which the sub region’s roads, schools and hospitals are. This was clarified as not being synonymous with failing to take note of and acknowledging President Museveni’s achievements which both Kabanda and Mawanda said would be leveraged upon and consolidated under the impending Gen MK Presidency.
The Mawanda team has also been using these media talkshows to publicize the upcoming delegates Congress for the MK Movement (slated for early next year) which Gen Museveni will be attending and using to tell the country his views about the political activities his son has been undertaking under the cover of celebrating his birthday.
People have been encouraged to call into these radio talkshows to give their views. Mawanda, Kabanda and Balaam have calmly been responding to all these phone calls many of which have been declaration of support for Gen MK. The radio talkshow segments have also been used to explain that the MK Movement is for all Ugandans who are determined to work towards ensuring there is no vacuum whenever Gen Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (whose failures Gen MK has eloquently been illuminating) decide to bow out of government.
And during the radio talkshows in East and Northern parts of Uganda (which took place in the last 10 days ostensibly to amplify mobilisation and sensitization of the masses about Gen MK and government programs like PDM), Micheal Mawanda explained many more things including the MK Movement baraza meetings during which Gen MK will be travelling to the regions and Cities of Uganda for town hall meetings which will enable him to directly listen to and interact with thousands of Ugandans and their leaders at the grassroots regardless of political affiliation or position in society.
Opinion leaders, who aren’t necessarily politicians, will equally be permitted to have their say at the upcoming MK Movement barazas slated to commence early next year ahead of the Group’s inaugural delegates Congress in Kampala. Enthused by the support the ordinary Karamajongs exhibited for his boss Gen MK, Mawanda at lenght clarified on many things surrounding Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba during a talkshow on UBC-owned Totore 90.0fm radio which is based in Moroto City.
The same message was delivered through Etop fm for Soroti City, Step fm for Bugisu, Arua One fm for West Nile/Arua City and Mega fm for Acholi sub region. The media radio talkshows-based mobilisation will be escalated to other Ugandan Cities and sub regions upcountry. Mawanda, who is the most senior politician in the MK Movement, also used the same radio talkshows to preach against sectarianism and discrimination of fellow Ugandans based on age, ethnicity and religion.
He also thanked Gen YK Museveni for the political stability and other foundational things the country has accomplished in the last 37 years. He also validly referred to Bobi Wine by reminding his audiences to be very sophisticated and serious when determining or thinking about Uganda’s next President because the business of governing and running Uganda is as complicated as carrying the lubengo/grinding stone on one’s head hence the need for leaders of experience who have been well mentored and groomed for such responsibility as opposed to those who have only excelled at music and showbiz in Kampala. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at [email protected]).
