Forum for Democratic Change [FDC] will not support popular musician Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine in the yet-to-be scheduled Kyadondo East by-election, party officials have said.
The party said it will instead support Apollo Kantinti, its flag bearer in 2016, whose election was nullified by the High court and the nullification upheld by the Court of Appeal last week.
The courts said the Electoral Commission didn’t adhere to electoral laws when it declared Katinti winner. Speaking to The Observer yesterday, FDC spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said that as a party, they can’t organize fresh party primaries for the constituency.
“The tradition has been that when an MP has been removed from parliament, we don’t go back for party primaries. That means Kantinti is the official candidate of FDC,” said the Kira municipality MP.
Ssemujju, who represented Kyadondo East in the 9th parliament before it was split, said the party can only opt for primaries if it has evidence that its candidate can’t win.
“But one who won and is in parliament and was just re- moved; he automatically retains the flag,” said Ssemujju, who is also the opposition chief whip. He said FDC president Gen Mugisha Muntu has asked the party deputy president in charge of Buganda and Lubaga division mayor, Joyce Ssebugwawo, to speak to the two candidates and get one to step aside.
“I don’t know whether that [speaking to the candidates] has started and whether it has any chance of succeeding,” Ssemujju said.
Ssebugwawo neither picked nor returned our repeated calls yesterday. Bobi Wine, too, didn’t respond to our calls and messages.
When this writer visited his Firebase office in Kamwokya, one of the singer’s handlers called Kim said, “He [Bobi Wine] is in the constituency. He rarely comes here these days.”
To boost their chances of winning FDC support, both Bobi Wine and Kantinti have courted FDC strongman Kizza Besigye and Mukono municipality MP Betty Nambooze Bakireke. Besigye is said to be close to both Bobi Wine and Kantinti, which complicates his decision on who of the two he will support during the by-election.
