Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago made a bold move by dumping the Democratic Party (DP) to officially join the Forum for Demcoratic Change (FDC).
Lukwago had been in DP since his days as a university student. He even had life membership.
Speaking at his unveiling ceremony at FDC headquarters at Najjanankumbi in Kampala, Lukwago said he had decided to join FDC because the current DP leadership under Nobert Mao had continuously locked him outside yet he also needed a place to call home.
“Each time I have had issues with the regime, and wanted to go home, I have met heavy locks at the doors,” Lukwago said.
“FDC has always received me with open hands each time I have needed them.”
Read: What Lukwago’s move to FDC means for party ahead of 2021 general elections
But Naggayi’s move to unseat Lukwago has been reported to be the pressure behind the mayor’s sudden move.
Just as a press conference was going on at Najjanankumbi, MP Naggayi took to her social media platforms to boast that she had caused Lukwago and Najjanankumbi’s panicky move.
Using the metaphor of the game of chase, Naggayi referred to herself as the queen who had caused lots of other moves in all directions on the chessboard.
“The Queen is the most important piece in the game of Chess. The queen is able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. The Black Queen herself made a move and it was Checkmate,” she wrote.
Najjanankumbi and Lukwago, the deputy president in Dr Kizza Besigye’s People’s Government, have enjoyed a warm relationship between for some time.
When ‘lukewarm FDC member’ Naggayi sought the party flag for the 2021 Kampala mayoral race, she was told the deadline had passed.
Critics had faulted Najjanankumbi for ‘purging’ Naggayi for her role in former Party President Mugisha Muntu’s 2017 party presidential elections.
Her late submission of nomination papers notwithstanding, FDC’s move to reject Naggayi, a party member, to back a non-member raised eyebrows.
Since nobody had picked forms the forms for the Kampala mayoral seat and Naggayi was pushing for the same, FDC would face more criticism from Naggayi and her ilk if the party fielded no candidate or backed a non-member.
Read: FDC: Media exaggerating trivial ‘Naggayi issue,’ silent on NRM, People Power defections
But the party might now need to hold a formal election for Kampala mayoral flag bearer, since the FDC EC said Naggayi had not met the deadline.
Lukwago, too, missed the deadline, and nominating him as a sole candidate would mean that the party had ring fenced its flag for him.
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