The Former President of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Rtd Col Dr. Kizza Besigye has revealed the hypocrisy of the embattled Nandala Mafabi, the Secretary-General and Engineer Patrick Amurait, the current President of FDC, stating that since they stepped on the political stage, they have been backstabbing whoever does not work in their interests.

According to Besigye, Amuriat is the son of Perdition according to the way he stepped into the seat of the presidency of the party, revealing that during the 2021 elections, FDC almost entered the polls with no candidate. But by chance, Amuriat was given the platform to contest as the head of the party.

Besigye made remarks during the press conference held on Wednesday, July 19, 2023, at his offices on Katonga Road in Kampala.

Besigye said that, Amuriat started accusing him of not campaigning for him, and being jealous, among others.

“So we went into the election of 2021 without a candidate and without a plan. Therefore, Amuriat was the last-minute option for the party. He was just a compromise,” Besigye said.

He added that, towards the recent national elections, FDC was in the crisis of presidential candidates and that is when Amuriat arose

“The elections were coming and there was no plan. This was a crisis from which Amuriat emerged as a candidate and in these challenges including Covid19, the party had no funds for elections. However, Amuriat started blaming me for not fundraising for the election money and that is where the issue of dirty money came from,” Besigye said.

During the presser attended by some key leaders in the party including Kampala’s Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, Mubarak Munyagwa, Doreen Nyanjura, and other supporters, Besigye said that when he tried to question the source of the money, Amuriat together with some leaders stopped his attempts because by then, he was not the party president and Besigye decided to go mute.

“And after the elections, we formed a committee to engage the issue but unfortunately, those we tasked to give us the information about the dirty money turned against us, questioning who are we to investigate the issue, and since I was not on NEC or National Council, I decided to be quiet,” he said.

However, according to Besigye, Mafabi and Amuriat started campaigning against him by organizing leaders in Busoga and Mbale where they blackmailed him, and accusing him of being tribal and jealous of Amuriat’s rising to the party presidency.

“They went to Mbale, Jinja, and Lango, and held meetings to discuss how Besigye is bad and received money from President Museveni, among others,” he noted.

Besigye revealed that it is the reason why Ssemujju and his counterparts held a consultative meeting on Monday, July 17, 2023, to redirect the party to its core mission.

He added that if the leaders of FDC want to save the party, they have to step down, otherwise, the conflicts will continue to escalate which will tear apart the party, and it will end like Democratic Party (DP) and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).

He encouraged the peaty leader to first pause the internal elections and settle the conflicts in the party.

Meanwhile, in the press conference, held at FDC party headquarters in Najjanankumbi, Mafabi accused Besigye of receiving money from secret sources which he failed to account for before the NC and FDC National Executive Council.

Amuriat, in his powers as the President of the party, has replaced Ssemujju with the Former MP of Kasese, Robert Centenary as the party Spokesperson.