Former FDC president, Mugisha Muntu has revealed his future political plans saying that he intends to share findings on the countrywide consultations with the party leadership.
Muntu made this revelation in a Facebook post on Tuesday.
Below is his full statement
I would like to take this opportunity to once again congratulate Hon. Winnie Kiiza upon her stellar performance as LoP and her handing over office today. There has been in the past few days a lot of speculation about my position on this. Please find below, my full statement.
Fellow Ugandans,
In the past few days, there has been a lot of speculation about my personal position on the recent reshuffles in parliamentary leadership among the opposition. It therefore seems important that I categorically state my position on the matter.
1. The FDC Party President, along with the new party leadership took the decision to make these changes. They are fully within their rights to do so. I have never and do not intend to question the legitimacy of their decisions or power.
2. The people chosen and how they are chosen will obviously differ from one party president to another, depending on the leader’s style, vision and long term strategy. While there has been a long-standing tradition of allowing appointed leaders to serve out full 2.5 year terms, this is neither a binding constitutional requirement nor an unchangeable precedent.
3. With that in mind, it is also important to recognize that all decisions have consequences. During my tenure as party president, I had to decide between pushing through my agenda at the cost of party unity or focusing on party unity first and then attempting to build consensus around my agenda. I chose the latter and the extent to which we succeeded is subject to judgement by posterity and whoever is interested in doing so.
4. After handing over the presidency last year, I pledged to engage in an inclusive consultative process with Ugandans about the best way to resolve some of the long-standing ideological differences we face both as a country and as FDC. The consultations have been open and the media has been invited to cover them. At no instance have our discussions sought to undermine the current party leadership or sabotage its agenda. In fact, we have focused mainly on how best to resolve the party differences.
5. This consultative process has been on-going since January and while we would have desired to have it concluded in a few weeks, resources and other practical considerations have dictated otherwise. The good news is that we have covered almost all the sub-regions now and will be concluding very soon. The results of these consultations will be shared with the party leadership and the public.
6. I recognise that not everyone will agree with the steps we have taken. I respect that. While I am open and eager to engage in constructive debate about what is required to take the party and our country forward, I am unwilling to engage in the name-calling, grandstanding and character assassination that appears to have gripped political actors since these changes were announced by the party leadership. It is this kind of petty politicking that has for long held us back from our full potential both as a country and party. The way forward is not more of the same.
God bless you all.
