FDC Plots Grass root Support For 2016 Elections

Top party leaders from South and Mid-Western Uganda are currently on a retreat in Fort Portal to plan strategies for the general elections.

Augustine Ruzindana, the party’s secretary for research says that one of the reasons why the party doesn’t have enough support in the region is poor mobilization.

Ruzindana says that the party has failed to recruit party members at the village, parish and sub county levels. He says that unlike the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party which is visible here, the FDC party still has much to do in order to attract support at the lower levels.

According to Ruzindana, the party will ensure that in the 2016 general elections, the party has candidates who will contest at all leadership positions in the western region. He also admitted that the party has only remained at the national level, saying that FDC is better off mobilizing its support from the grass root.

During the retreat some party leaders said that why they are not being supported due to disagreements between some of the higher ranking party leaders. Saul Matte, the FDC chairman Kasese district says that the party should carry out leadership training for party members in the region to bolster their mobilization skills.

Nyakato Rusoke, the deputy FDC chairperson in-charge of Western Uganda says she is confident in 2016, the party will have more candidates who will vie for all the elective offices.

The FDC and the opposition generally have been lacking grassroots structures especially below the district level. For most electoral positions countrywide in the general elections, the FDC and other opposition parties did not even have candidates.

In western Uganda, the FDC party enjoys massive support in Kasese district. In the 2006 presidential elections, Kasese was the only district in the western region where FDC candidate, Kiiza Besigye, defeated Museveni with 56% against Museveni’s 43%. The party has also won parliamentary elections in Bukonzo East, Busongora North constituencies and the district Woman MP seat.