The national coordinator of the newly formed Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), Gen. Mugisha Muntu has said he is very happy that he deserted Forum For Democratic Change (FDC).
Muntu, whose party was launched amidst fanfare on Wednesday in Kampala also said he was glad he lost the FDC party presidency.
“Had I become president, we would still have internal fights in the party that had existed for about five years,” Muntu said on Thursday during an appearance on nbs television’s political talk show, Frontline.
He was responding to accusations by FDC Secretary General, Nandala Mafabi that was never honest while leaving FDC.
“Muntu gave us a report but unfortunately before we could discuss it, he said that he has gone. That is where the problem was. I stood with Gen. Muntu for party presidency and I lost but I didn’t get out of the party, why did he go after losing an election? I told you time will tell,” said Nandala.
But Muntu retaliated: “You wanted me to stay so that you can fight me within the party as you did in the past five years.”
The former army chief also noted that his separation from FDC was due to disagreements within the party which have existed for a long time and his leaving was the only solution to solve them.
“Our separation from FDC was because of disagreements on the methods to meet the primary objective of regime change, with time it’s getting clear to people that our exit was good for us and FDC,” he said.
Also, Nandala blamed Muntu of recruiting FDC members into ANT instead of the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“That clearly shows that his job is to put down FDC, and I hope if Amanya Mushega stands for ANT presidency and wins you will not run away again,” added Nandala.
But Muntu said as ANT, they were starting from scratch.
“And if in a few months down the road, one of our (ANT) members leaves and joins another opposition party, we shall be very okay with it because people have their choices and we need to create an environment for democracy.”
Earlier, FDC vice chairman for eastern Uganda Salaamu Musumba had accused Muntu of ‘betraying’ her by forming another party, adding that Muntu used to be her best friend in FDC.
“I am constrained to talk about the ‘mugole’. A ‘mugole’ of three previous ‘marriages’. If my friend Muntu had won the in house FDC elections, there would be no ANT. I keep on asking myself, ‘did we have internal structural problems?’, because me and Muntu have a thing. He kept on encouraging because at one point I wanted to form my party but he said to me, ‘Salamu don’t do that’. So I’m still digesting many things, why he didn’t stay as he persuaded me?”
