Beti Olive Kamya
27 August 2008
column
Kampala — SINCE my resignation as Special Envoy in the Office of FDC's President, leaders have branded me a power-hungry, ambitious, unhinged, tantrum-prone tribalist who was paid sh300m by President Yoweri Museveni to disorganise FDC.
What they are not saying are the issues I raised with Dr Kizza Besigye in a one-on-one discussion and later to a formally convened National Executive Committee (NEC). I never said I had to be chairman of FDC and I never raised the Buganda issue.
What I said to the NEC is that they had manipulated the constitution, as they did in 2005, during the National Delegates Conference.
I put it to them that they are flexible with the constitution only when it suits them and adamant when it does not. I admitted, too, that I was disappointed that Dr Besigye, whom I have served with such devotion had not supported my bid for the chairmanship of FDC, when the Buganda caucus proposed my name.
For those two reasons, I submitted my two-sentence resignation letter, just like Onzima, Odonga Otto, John Butime and Mary frances Semambo had done before, each of us for different reasons.
Why the party machinery brought out their sharpest claws against me and not the others, I will never know! When the FDC chairman, Dr Sulaiman Kiggundu died, Dr Besigye declared his preference for a Muslim.
Nobody saw anything amiss or said anything against that. The party spokesman, during an official Monday press conference, declared that the position would be filled during the National Council, due on July 26, 2008.
Mrs Sebugwawo, the chairperson of the Buganda Caucus, declared that the position would be filled by someone from Buganda since there had been no election during the 2005 National Delegates' Conference but consensus that was heavily influenced by the regional balancing act.
Many people offered their views, notably that the position should be filled by a competent person regardless of where they came from.
The Buganda Caucus decided to be assertive and pro-active. they wrote a formal letter to NEC proposing me for chairwoman, but by that time, some leaders had decided that the position would now not be filled by the National Council, indeed, claiming that only the National Delegates Conference has the mandate.
My contention is that the National Council is fully empowered under the constitution to "fill interim vacant posts". Why was this provision not evoked to fill the position of Party Chairman, when in September 2006 it was evoked to fill over 10 vacancies?
FDC leaders say that they evoked Article 24(iii) which says that "if a vacancy cannot be immediately filled by reason of any constitutional requirement (note "if a position cannot be immediately filled by reason of any constitutional requirement) the office shall be filled by the next senior personnel in rank" conveniently ignoring Article 24(ii) which says "whenever a vacancy occurs the post shall be filled in accordance with the constitution".
Clearly, Article 24(ii) is first preference while Article 24(iii) is an option when Article 24(ii) is not possible-but it was possible, the National Council had been convened and it would have performed the function of filling a vacant position.
Besides, a precedent had been set when Dan Mugarura, a very competent and deserving person was appointed to act in the place of Maj Rubaramira Ruranga, when Yusuf Nsibambi, the next senior personnel and equally deserving, was skipped. Asaph Ntanda and Frank Atukunda were also appointed by NEC to fill vacant posts and we are all very happy with them.
The party leaders say I am reading the constitution wrong and have unleashed the party machinery after me, but I don't think am wrong. if need be, I shall argue it before a competent jurisdiction.
These are the only issues I raised and the party leaders should respond to them instead of smearing my name with malicious propaganda.
I am so ashamed that FDC leaders are more vicious than the NRM when confronted with a difference in opinion, openly threatening that I will be isolated and crushed, leaking to the press discussions held in private, mobilising FDC leaders in Buganda to disown me-as if that will take away the issues I have raised. I am not power- hungry nor am I a tribalist and Museveni has not given me any money.
But I will not be intimidated to fight for constitutionalism, even in FDC, for fear of isolation.
I had promised some people I respect that I would not further fuel the controversy surrounding my resignation but my friend Onyango Obbo and MP Alice Alaso's respective opinions, published on Aug 21 suggesting that I am a "mad woman" and "must learn to lose gracefully", leave me no choice.
I hold Alaso in high esteem. She is a skillful, articulate, legislator, consciencious, and hardworking but during the November 2005 National Delegates Conference (NDC), a few minutes to the elections, the FDC virgin constitution was amended to make it possible for her to contest for the position of Secretary General (SG), a fact she does not dispute but only attempts to justify.
Many of us had participated in formulating the FDC constitution and were happy with the draft to be presented to the delegates for adoption.
Article 24(3) of the draft constitution stipulated that "the office of the SG shall be on a full-time basis and he or she shall not hold any other office" while Article 19(13)(a) stipulated that FDC would have two deputy presidents among other members of the NEC.
A few days to the NDC, an influential member in FDC asked me which position I planned to contest for and I answered "Deputy President".
He told me that I couldn't have it because "we have already given it to X" (mentioned a name). I reminded him that there were two positions but he mentioned another name whom "we" had designated for the second deputy president.
I said I would just keep my position of publicity and spokesperson, which I had held during the interim period. He said it was not available because "we" thought Y (mentioned a name) was more experienced than you, so he would fill it.
I said fine, I'll settle for the Diplomatic Affairs portfolio but he said sorry, Z (name) was going to hold that position. At that time, I burst out, "who is 'we' and where/when do they sit and who gave them the mandate to decide for the party?".
If anybody wants to know who the influential person is, for verification, I will be happy to provide the name in confidence.
On the second day of the NDC, elections, scheduled to begin at 9:00am, had not started by 12:45pm. The delegates were getting impatient and there was no 'senior' person in sight, so I went looking for them, to find out what was going on.
I found most of the people that now occupy the top 15 positions in FDC, in a closed meeting, to which I had not been invited, allocating themselves positions! My name did not appear anywhere.
When I saw Alice Alaso, Kasiano Wadri and Augustine Ruzindana, all MPs, listed for Secretary General and Deputy Secretary Generals, respectively, I knew that they were not eligible under Article 24(3), so I declared to the closed meeting to which I had invited myself, that I would contest for the position of SG.
They all tried to dissuade me on grounds that we needed to reach out to the East and North in a special way, because the two regions were potential vote baskets (whereas Buganda was seen as not), hence the Buganda issue during elections of SG.
This is when they decided to amend the constitution, to accommodate the three MPs.
The argument that the constitution was amended because FDC did not have funds to pay the salary of a full-time SG did not arise then and any honest person in the know will testify to this. Besides, wouldn't a party without an MP have a SG?
the current constitutional amendment is being returned stipulating that the position of SG will be full-time and holders of other offices will no longer be eligible to hold it.
The FDC leadership might want to tell us whether they now have resources to pay the salary of a SG and two deputies!
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