Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has confirmed that Rtd Col. Dr. Kizza Besigye will be nominated on November 4.
Addressing the press today at the party headquarters in Kampala, the FDC Deputy Electoral Commissioner, Mr Michael Kabaziguruka said the party had settled for Nov 4 after the Independent Electoral Commission failed to avail them Nov 3, a date he says, they had booked. “The peoples’ president will be nominated on November 4 at 11am at Namboole stadium,” he said.
He lashed out at the IEC, saying it had short-changed them and instead cleared President Yoweri Museveni to be nominated on November 3.
“The EC said they hadn’t received our letter and said it was Museveni who had to be nominated on November 3,” Kabaziguruka said adding that after the nomination of Dr Besigye, he would hold his first campaign rally at Nakivubo Stadium.
Meanwhile, the FDC is in the process of holding party primaries for the party flag bearers in the 2016 elections. According to Mr Kabiziguruka, members who wish to run on the party ticket will be chosen by a team of senior party members.
“We are in the process of organizing primaries, we emphasize consensus over primary elections,” said Kabaziguruka.
He stressed that the party would send a teams of top party leaders to all the regions in the country to scrutinize all members who wish to run on the FDC ticket.
“These teams are tasked with the responsibility to fairly mediate consensus among members, when that fails, then we will go for primaries,” he noted.
Tongue-in-cheek, Kabaziguruka urged disgruntled members of the ruling National Resistance Movement ‘who feel cheated in the party primaries’ to cross to FDC.
“We call upon all NRM members who feel that the exercise has been unfair to come home, we are ready to receive them,” he said.
Commenting on a letter from London, written on a The Democratic Alliance (TDA) headed paper and sent to Kampala with signatures of FDC flag bearer Dr Besigye and his opposition rival Mr John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, Kabaziguruka said both parties had sought to strengthen their individual capacities in a joint effort to end Mr Museveni’s rule.
“Its not because we want to front one candidate, we shouldn’t fight each other, we should focus all our effort on Museveni by making sure we work together independently for a common goal,” he said. ‘Under the auspices of the Kofi Annan Foundation, we have held a two-day meeting in London, UK to continue the discussions previously held in Nairobi, Kenya. We have made substantial progress in preparation for the 2016 general elections in Uganda. We will subsequently report to our respective political structures so as to complete the arrangements guaranteeing our success in the presidential elections,’ the release issued in Kampala under The Democratic Alliance (TDA) states.
Both Mbabazi and Dr Besigye contested for the flag bearer position of the TDA, a loose political pressure group. However, the two were later to go separate ways, with Dr Besigye, the flag bearer of the opposition FDC announcing he would run for presidency under his party’s banner.
