VIDEO: FDC ready to field own presidential candidate if opposition bickering does not end

Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Patrick Oboi Amuriat has emphasized that if the ongoing clashes in the opposition continue, FDC will declare their candidate for the 2021 elections to forestall the 2016 failure to decide on a candidate under the then TDA Alliance.

The Democratic Alliance (TDA) was an attempt by opposition parties to field one candidate to challenge incumbent President Yoweri Museveni.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OZLXKlGIsE

Amuriat said, as the opposition is striving to talk and front a single candidate for the 2021 elections, if the ongoing clashes are not resolved, FDC will walk alone and stand behind their party candidates in the forthcoming elections.

He also defended FDC's decision to dig deeper to find out who is behind physical attacks on the party's former leader Dr Kizza Besigye. Dr Besigye has twice been confronted at public gatherings by groups of people claiming to support Kyandondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi's people power.

https://nilepost.co.ug/2019/03/13/bobi-wine-distances-himself-from-groups-attacking-dr-kizza-besigye/

Several opposition politicians like MP Betty Nambooze Bakireke had urged FDC not to carry out the investigation arguing that it is meant to sow more discord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l83JhAgzSU

While being hosted on NBS TV's Morning Breeze, Amuriat dismissed announcements from some political quarters that Dr Besigye has become a spent force and irrelevant to contemporary Ugandan politics.

Amuriat challenged those who are calling for Dr Besigye to step aside as Uganda's leading opposition figure to prove themselves by filling his role with their own actions.

He said that FDC would not be distracted by the attacks on the party because their ultimate goal remains to change Ugandan leadership come the 2021 general elections.

In a swipe at MP Kyagulanyi, Amuriat advised the opposition to focus on preparing voters for change instead of preaching for the acquisation of a national identity card to vote. Kyagulanyi has repeatedly urged his supporters to register and acquire a national ID to be able to vote in the 2021 elections.

Continuing his line of thought, Amuriat postulated that it was possible there were youths in the people power movement who were being paid by the National Resistance Movement to taint the name of the opposition by instigating disagreements through fights.