The opposition Forum for Democratic Change, FDC leadership has been advised to move on and accept that her members have a right to move to other parties if they do not agree with party ideologies anymore.
The development comes after the party accused the New Formation of Rtd.Maj.Gen Mugisha Muntu of recruiting her members and not looking outside. Some even accuse the general of using party resources before departure in the recruitment process.
In September, former FDC party president Mugisha Muntu made the long awaited decision to leave the party after over 9 months of consultation. He decided, with the help of other frustrated party members to form their own party, New Formation. But this did not go well with some party leaders and members who accused him of leaving because he could not stand losing the presidency to the current party head Patrick Oboi Amuriat. The two did not agree on several things.
While POA was pro defiance, Muntu believed in building the party from grassroot level. The differences later resulted into one walking out. He has since faced criticism, but says it is time to speak up.
In a letter dated today 1st November 2018, the New Formation explains that when they left, some FDC members decided to go with them; these were not coerced but decided on their own. Alice Alaso, a senior member of the new formation says it is unfair for FDC to keep accusing them of recruiting its members.
“When we made the announcement that we would be leaving FDC, we emphasized that it was a result of having two conflicting perspectives on how to move forward. We mentioned that there are many within the party that felt like we do and that the choice of joining us or not would be entirely theirs, just like it is for colleagues from other parties that have signaled a willingness to join us. The natural effect of our departure was that there were some people that would join us and others wouldn’t. it is very unfair, perhaps even undemocratic therefore for anyone to start accusing us of ‘recruiting’ from within the FDC” the statement reads.
In the letter, Alaso adds that FDC was also created by members who had been in NRM, DP, UPC among other parties, and should stop pretending like this is new to them. New Formation now says they are still open to forming a committee that will oversee their post-separation process.
Alaso says they will be releasing the New Formation road map to launching a new party as promised.