Former Forum for Democratic Change President Maj Gen (rtd) Mugisha Muntu has kicked off a tour of universities to popularize his new political organization after quitting his former party.
The former FDC man appeared addressed students of Kampala International University (KIU).
Gen Muntu who says that over 78% of Uganda’s population are youth below 30 and that they are not our future but rather the present.
“We must equip them to face today’s challenges and have space for them at the decision-making table,” said Gen Muntu on his Facebook page.
Gen Muntu who is expected to visit other universities in the country last month announced that he and his colleagues had quit the FDC, to the disarray of the current president Patrick Amuriat.
After his announcement, Gen Muntu addressed a press conference together with his colleagues with whom they had quit the party over what they call intolerance.
Gen Muntu has now kicked off a campaign to popularize his New Formation outfit, a process that he says will culminate in the formation of a new political party by December 25 this year.
There are currently 39 registered political parties according to information of the Electoral Commission website.
Some of the senior FDC members believed to be on Gen Muntu’s splinter group include newly elected Arua Municiaplaity MP Kassiano Wadri, Paul Mwiru (Jinja East), Anna Adeke (National Youth), Alice Alaso (FDC Vice President), Former Leader of Opposition in Parliament and Kasese Woman MP Winnie Kiiza among others.
Although some of these have openly identified with Gen Muntu, the former army commander has encouraged them not to officially declare their positions as it would force them into an undesirable situation of by-elections.
While defending his decision to quit FDC, Gen Muntu said last month that there were irreconcilable differences among two camps in the FDC and that they had fought each other to a point of paralysis.
“We are also reaching out to the progressive leaders. We need to reach out to each other so that we form a strong and credible alternative,” he said.
Muntu also insists on his tactic of engaging the public to have “an inclusive, forward-thinking and ideologically sound process”.
“We became a destabilising factor in all the Opposition,” Muntu said. “We have fought each other to the point of paralysis,” he remarked.
Gen Muntu said that while the faction led by Dr Kizza Besigye and others focused on fighting President Museveni’s regime, his group wanted to build capacity in order to manage power properly in case they are elected by Ugandans into the State House.