When a person is bound to prove the existence of any fact, it is said the burden of proof lies on that person.
Equally, Uganda’s opposition leader Col. Kizza Besigye claims of the existence of “dirty money” in Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) have been dismissed by the Special Elders Committee installed by the National Council to probe those who allegedly sneaked the colossal sums of cash into the opposition establishment.
According to Besigye, the money was brought into the party by Secretary General Hon Nandala Mafabi and party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat (POA) towards electioneering in 2021.
The money has caused unprecedented unrest in the party with Besigye and his radical faction baying for Mafabi, POA and their loyalists’ blood.
Besigye, in black and white alleges that the money was picked from President Yoweri Museveni to fund the FDC presidential campaigns.
With accusations and counter-accusations taking toll in the FDC, the second highest party organ constituted a committee chaired by a respectable, incorruptible and veteran politician Dr Frank Nabwiso to investigate all the allegations raised by both Besigye and Mafabi and also come up with findings and recommendations.
The Special Elders Committee will present its report tomorrow on Friday, July 28 to the National Council.
However, the Besigye group that runs a parallel FDC head office at Katonga road in Kampala already dismissed the committee as “useless” maintaining that the elders were compromised by the Najjanankumbi faction.
Both Besigye and Mafabi appeared before the committee physically to present their case.
The tribunal also interviewed the party president POA- a once blue-eyed boy of Col Besigye and other senior FDC leaders.
POA, before the fallout referred to the horse voiced Colonel as “my godfather.”
TrumpetNews on February 17, reported exclusively about an impending implosion that was threatening the future of a party that has battled the regime for close to 20 years and how Besigye and Mafabi were ripped apart by accusations of “Museveni’s money.”
Read>>>>https://trumpetnews.co.ug/exclusive-musevenis-money-splits-besigye-mafabi/
Mafabi and Besigye have been confidants for a long period of time.
For sometimes now, FDC has been media fodder as its leaders publicly trade a tirade of outbursts over who picked and received the money.
What remains a fact is Col Besigye agrees to have received money which amount he declined to reveal from Nandala Mafabi who also admits.
The man from Bugisu said the funds disbursed to his senior were meant to facilitate the party’s polling agents during election.
‘NO EVIDENCE’
In tomorrow’s report, Dr Nabwiso doesn’t mention the claims of dirty money.
According to a source, Nabwiso defends the decision of excluding ‘dirty money’ because Kizza Besigye failed to prove the existence of the fact.
According to information we gathered, when Besigye appeared before the tribunal who defended his claims by word of mouth, without any document to prove that indeed the dirty money came from State House.
“Besigye maintained that the money was from Museveni. He was asked to prove, he couldn’t,” said a source who asked to remain unnamed because of the sensitivity of the matter.
A separate source privy to the details of the probe, Mafabi and POA admitted that money had come into the party to fund elections when they faced the tribunal.
They acknowledged to have sourced the funds but declined to reveal the funders saying, “those responsible prefer to remain underground.”
“But they rejected with contempt the accusations of receiving money from Mr Museveni,” a source added.
Col Besigye and his group have vowed to reject the outcome of the investigation saying Mafabi compromised the committee, to which Dr Nabwiso strongly rebuked saying his principles are documented everywhere. He cites 2005 while he served as Kagoma county when he rejected millions from the regime to amend the constitution.
His vice chairman Stanley Kayembeya, two weeks ago resigned from the committee citing interference in the mediation process.
Katembeya accused Amuriat and Mafabi of holding special meetings across the country with members of the national delegates conference discussing issues which were already being discussed by the Special Elders Committee and to him this was subjudice and undermining the work of the mediation committee and lack of good will.
‘A Besigye agent’
Dr Nabwiso speaking about the conduct of his vice chairman said Katembeya was an agent of Katonga sent by Besigye to disrupt the investigations after predicting that the committee had taken a certain position in relations to claims of dirty money to which he couldn’t support with evidence.
It remains unknown if Dr Nabwiso included the above finding in his report but he has been expressing disgust to FDC officials about the behavior of Katembeya whose resignation he learned in the media and todate his vice president has never tendered in his resignation letter.
Nabwiso also told the FDC officials that he was troubled by some elders who invited him in a meeting in which they accused Besigye of planning to sell FDC to NUP a statement he sensed carried tribal undertones.
No FDC official both from Najjanankumbi or Katonga was at liberty to speak to us when reached. Those who picked our calls begged not to be named in our report.
