Ssemujju: ‘NUP did not consult FDC before naming Shadow Cabinet’

The Forum for Democratic Change-FDC party has said it was never consulted when the National Unity Platform-NUP was naming some of its Members of Parliament ministers in the shadow cabinet.

Speaking to the press on Sunday, June 27, the FDC Spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda who also doubles as its whip in parliament said the National Executive Committee of the party had agreed in principle that they would consider a coalition if NUP asked them officially to be part of it.

However, this never happened before Friday when the Leader of Opposition in parliament Mathias Mpuuga released a list of his shadow cabinet with names drawn from not only NUP, the party that he belongs to but also other opposition political parties including the FDC.

Among the 30 MPs who were appointed in the shadow cabinet, seven belong to FDC. These include Gilbert Olanya, Adeke Ann Ebaju, Francis Mwijukye, Nyakato Asinasi, Yusuf Nsibambi, Dr Timothy Batuwa, and Atkins Katusabe. But Ssemujju said that he alone cannot decide whether the MPs should take up the appointments.

“For now I can’t say what is going to happen because party organs can’t meet in a middle of a lockdown. But definitely, we shall have a position on that matter,” Ssemujju said. In reaction, Joel Ssenyonyi, the spokesperson of NUP said parliamentary appointments are based on individual MPs and not the parties they come from.

Ssenyonyi said NUP has already reached out to FDC to mend relations broken during the 2021 general election when each party sponsored different candidates. Ssenyonyi said even the appointment was done in the spirit of working together because both parties share similar aspirations of causing a change in Uganda.

Some of the NUP MPs who were appointed expressed readiness to serving their country. Derrick Nyeko now Shadow Minister in charge of security and the presidency said people should judge them not based on their age but their capacity to serve.

Since the return of multiparty politics in Uganda in 2006, FDC has been offering parliamentary leadership as a result of having the largest number of MPs in the opposition. However, in the last election, the party managed only 32 MPs against NUP’s 57 hence losing the coveted seat.