FORUM FOR DEMOCRATIC CHANGE (FDC)

SECRETARY GENERALS STATUS REPORT FOR THE

6th NATIONAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE HELD ON 2nd SEPTEMBER,
2015

1.0 SALUTATION
The Party President and your Deputies, the Party Chair Person and
your Deputies, the Treasury General and your Deputies, my
colleagues in the Secretary Generals office, our Development
Partners, Colleagues from our Sister Parties, Religious Leaders
here, Members from the Civil Society and the
Media,
distinguished Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is my great
pleasure to welcome all of you to this FDC 6 th National Delegates
Conference and I would like at the onset to heartily welcome all of
you for coming all the way to this venue to be part of the great
history, not just for our party but for our mother Country- Uganda!
1.1. INTRODUCTION
Mr. Chairperson and dear delegates, you will realize that this is
my first report since I took over office. I feel deeply honoured by
the trust and confidence exhibited by you for having entrusted
me with this high office of the party. I would like to thank my
predecessor Hon. Alaso Alice Asianut and her entire team for
having worked tirelessly hard in keeping the secretariat and the
party operational amidst all challenges. I promise to build on what
the team has done to make the party grow further.
Delegates, since I came to office on 15 th June 2015, the
Secretariat has been busy organizing FDC Presidential Flag bearer
elections. The office of Secretary General halted a number of
activities because it did not want to interfere with the Presidential
candidates countrywide campaigns. Since this is now coming to
an end, other programs are now going to be rolled out
immediately.
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We thank the districts with functional offices. As a party, we want

to operationalize all district offices by making a humble
contribution of Ugx. 100,000 per month for rent. We shall need
agreements a twelve months agreement between the FDC district
branch and the land lords with advance payment of 6months.
Those with already functional offices can use this fund in running
the office. Those who can negotiate for less rental fees, the
difference will be used for the day today work in the offices.
The telephones I pledged are ready for collection but I want to
quickly add that this is Party property and will therefore be
managed by the District General Secretary. Guidelines on the
usage of these phones have been communicated.
Let me draw your attention that office stamps are a property of
the party and are to be maintained and kept by the General
Secretaries. The party is in the process of withdrawing all old
stamps, to replace them with new ones.
Colleagues, I implore all of us to get up and work extra hard so
that we are able to salvage this country from human wolves!
NRM is using money to buy support amongst the population and
using propaganda that they are very strong as we can all see, it is
at its weakest. Let us use our energies and the little resources we
have to interact with the population in our respective places. It is
during these interactions that we can preach the message of
change. The population is now ready to listen to us.
2.0 ORBITUARY
On a sad note, our beloved Deputy Party President Central
Region Owek. Joyce Sebugwawo lost two members of her family;
her own daughter and her father in law. Once again, we send our
heartfelt condolences to you Owek. Ssebugwawo and your family.
Also our member Mr. Asuman Semakula lost his beloved wife. We
are deeply saddened for the demise. Our thoughts are with you
and your family during these difficult times. To the rest of you who
have lost your dear ones, we offer our deepest condolences to
you and your families. .
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3.0 FINANCES
Mr. Chairman and delegates, you will note that our sources of
income are through the sale of party cards, donations, grants,
fund raising and contribution by members, well wishers and
Government.
Mr. Chairman, through you, I take this opportunity to thank our
funders and partners for both financial and material support they
extend to our party. In particular we thank Democratic
Governance Facility (DGF), Netherland Institute for Multiparty
Democracy (NIMD), International Republican Institute (IRI) and
The Conservative Party UK for their continued support.
We are grateful to those Members of Parliament who have
continued to contribute towards the financing of party activities.
May the Good Lord Bless you for your generous contributions!
Similarly, we extend our sincere thanks to the Government of
Uganda through the Electoral commission for obliging to the Party
financing Act passed five years ago. This financial year
2015/2016, the party received funds amounting to Ugx .
1,163,522,013/=. These resources have greatly helped us in
building of our party structures and implementing other party
related activities.
As a secretariat we shall enforce total accountability in the party
without exceptions.
4.0 STAFF
The total number of staff employed by the Party based at Head
Offices is 12 headed by the Chief Administrative Officer. I am sure
you will agree with me that the secretariat is understaffed. For
sure, the amount of work that the secretariat has to contend with
far exceeds the staff allocated to it. The truth of the matter is that
we are a severely under-resourced Party and as such we are
forced to do with this grossly unacceptable situation as we look
for a solution. On this note, I give credit to the secretariat team

working hard to cope with demands and pressures on a daily

basis.
Our staff Patricia Alaroker and Honest Kansime left us for further
studies and campaigns respectively. We are in the process of
recruiting a policy analyst, an Assistant Administrative Officer and
a Desk Officer Western Region. We thank the two for the work
they did for the party.
5.0 ELECOTORAL COMMISSION OF THE PARTY
Mr. Chairperson, I commend the Electoral commission for the
work well done right away from the building of Party structures
through today. I report to you members that this team has
organised two successful elections in a space of two months;
1. National Women's League NDC that was held on 26/07/15 at
Tal Cottages that elected womens league committee headed
by Hon. Winfred Kiiza.
2. National Youth League NDC that was held between 16 th 18th
August 2015 at Jokas hotel in Bweyogerere in which Mr. Iddi
Ouma emerged victorious as Chairperson of the league.
All events were successful and I congratulate all women and
youths who emerged as leaders to these important wings of the
Party. The list of these leaders is here attached.
Today is another day to conclude unfinished election of NEC and
election of Party Presidential flag bearer for 2016 General
elections. On this note, I recognize our own two (2) Presidential
contenders; Major Gen. (Rtd) Mugisha Muntu and Rtd Col Dr. Kizza
Besigye who have been campaigning for the last two months. It
is important for each of them to note that the matter will be
concluded today by these delegates and we hope to move
forward here after.
6.

PROPERTY LOAN FACILITY:

This facility was renewed on 16.04.2015 and it will expire on

29/02/2016. The outstanding value is to the tune of Ugx .41,
300,000. We are negotiating with the creditor to have this loan
cleared before February 2016.
7.0 PLANNED ACTIVITIES & PROJECTS
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In the course of our journey towards forming and building of a

vibrant party, we are planning to ensure that FDC keeps growing
throughout the country as we approach the 2016 General
Elections and after. To achieve this, we have to work with our
people at grass root level to address the needs of the party. We
have to work together as a team and the secretariat is soon
embarking on the following program:
The Secretary General will issue out an extensive program to visit
the districts to meet and discuss with leaders about pertinent
issues necessary for bringing cohesion in the party.This is aimed
at making our leaders and members to get involved and have a
substantial contribution in building FDC Party towards the greater
desired heights. We must ensure that the presence of FDC grows
throughout the country despite challenges caused by the NRM
Government. This can be achieved through working with the
population to address their needs. With stronger district branches
and tighter coordination at regional level we can do much better.
We intend to train the Youth and Women in leadership on how to
articulate party values. A program is soon to be rolled out
immediately. We want vibrant Youth and Women Leagues.
We shall fully support Independent Electoral Commission of FDC
in this election period to achieve its mandate.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to do this and do it quickly
because the population is looking at FDC to rescue the country
from the loot by the NRM regime. The instance of loot by the
regime are innumerable the latest being public land for Research
parceled out to one individual.
8.0 PUBLICITY AND COMMUNICATIONS
In principle, I believe in communication as a tool in building the
party. I have in that respect fulfilled my pledge of giving a fully
connected mobile telephone to each district to ease
communication amongst ourselves and to drastically reduce
calling related costs.These phones will be managed by District

General Secretaries. The Party will always meet the monthly

subscription.
Secondly, through the department of Publicity and Information
with the help of Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy
(NIMD) and other Partners, we have copies of; the Party
Constitution, Party Agenda, and Strategic Plan. We are also
developing a Party Brochure and copies of simplified Policy
Agenda booklets. These documents will be distributed to all
districts so that people can know more about what FDC as a party
stands for. We hope these materials give us a competitive edge.
Thirdly we shall continue to address weekly press conferences on
issues that generally affect our country and the economy. It is also
important to remember that the political scene is ripe for FDC
victory in 2016 General Elections especially if the environment is
cleaned and the ground levelled. We must use this opportunity to
inform and educate the general public of any issue affecting the
population.
9.0 PRIMARY ELECTIONS.
The Party Electoral Commission will conduct Partys Primary
Elections at all levels between 2 nd September 2015 and 15th
October 2015. The complete program will be sent to all districts.
The nomination papers and guidelines for this important exercise
will soon be available to all districts.
10.0 THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE (TDA)
The most significant political development in the opposition has
been the grand political alliance called The Democratic Alliance
(TDA) which is an umbrella of all democracy loving organizations
to which FDC subscribes. Members present here are aware that
there have been a series of informal meetings involving the
members of TDA, with an aim of forging the way forward.
It is important to note that the decision to join TDA was discussed
and passed in NEC. Through NEC, the Party committed itself to
fulfill all the conditions and requirements in TDAs Protocol.

11. OPENING OF DISTRICT OFFICES

The party plans to have all district offices operational. The party
will make a humble contribution of Ugx100, 000/= per month for
rent to each district. We request all the districts to open FDC
District bank accounts for ease of transfer of money. The party
has greatly suffered from dishonest people within our midst and
therefore, we want to make all transactions through bank
accounts.
12. SUPPORT TO SPECIAL GROUPS
FDC will continue to support the Women and Youth leagues to
carry out their activities on behalf of the Party in all Districts. We
expect them to extensively hold public meetings, seminars and
workshops to discuss and sensitize the people on issues that
affect women and youth such as health, unemployment, poverty,
bribery and corruption that have been occasioned by the NRM
regime. These activities if carried out with resolve and vigor will
increase our visibility.
13.0 CONCLUSION
FDC is our home that brings together the entire fratenity. It is a
home, built on the foundations of unity, peace, reconciliation,
prosperity, accountability, transparency, commitment, mutual
respect, decency, trust and open discussion. We must begin the
fight against evil forces that are in control of our society through
political education and practical activity. We therefore must place
FDC Party in the forefront of the struggle for Constitutionalism,
Democracy;, Good governance; Rule of Law; Observance of
human rights and fundamental freedoms; Emancipation of
women, Workers, PWDs, Youth and Zero tolerance to corruption.
We must engage the people in every aspect and constantly
analyze and assess the political situation so that we compete
favorably for victory to be on our side.
For God and my Country
One Uganda One People

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, (MP Budadiri West)

SECRETARY GENERAL