The opposition FDC, seeking to calm some of its Acholi MPs who were angered by Winnie Byanyima’s decision to stand surety for her two nephews facing murder charges, has asked party chairman Wasswa Biriggwa to step in.
The MPs led by Aruu county’s Odonga Otto and Beatrice Anywar, an FDC supporter representing Kitgum municipality as an independent MP, a week ago wept in public after Byanyima, wife to former party president Dr Kizza Besigye, turned up at Nakawa chief magistrate’s court to stand surety for Matthew and Joseph, the Kanyamunyu brothers who are accused alongside Cynthia Munwangari, of killing Kenneth Akena Watmon, a community development officer who hailed from Acholi.
The accused were in court for their bail hearing. A teary Otto and Anywar publicly proclaimed they had quit FDC because of Byanyima’s decision. In an interview on January 17, FDC spokesman Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda said the FDC hierarchy had decided to step in and restore harmony.
“The matter for which they said they want to leave the party is not an FDC matter and we are not going to discuss it as party organs but we have asked our party chairman to speak to them and advise them on how such matters are handled,” Ssemujju said.
The MPs argued that Byanyima, who is considered an FDC pillar although she doesn’t hold any office in the party, shouldn’t have stood surety for the Kanyamunyus, who they accuse of hurting the Acholi by the killing of Akena. The MPs vowed to mobilise against Besigye in northern Uganda, where he wields significant support, in future.
“I am a practising lawyer, I know Kanyamunyu is entitled to his bail, but Winnie Byanyima, the wife of Dr Kizza Besigye, to stand surety for Kanyamunyu; it is all over, the political lines have been drawn,” Otto told journalists outside court last week.
On Tuesday, a lawyer following the Akena murder trial on behalf of the victim’s family criticized Otto and company for lashing out at Winnie, the Oxfam executive director, for standing surety for the suspects.
Julius Ojok, who is described in legal parlance as a watch brief for the Akena family, said MPs Otto, Anywar, Franca Akello and other relatives and friends of the deceased were wrong to attack Byanyima.
“Everybody, regardless of the charges against him/her, is entitled to bail. It was wrong to condemn somebody who sought to stand surety for the accused,” Ojok said in an interview with The Observer.
A watch brief is a lawyer who follows court proceedings on behalf of the victim’s family. Last week, Justice Elizabeth Kabanda denied the accused bail.
This is not the first time Otto is threatening to quit the party. In June 2016, following an announcement of the shadow cabinet in parliament in which he was excluded, Otto publicly condemned party president Mugisha Muntu in a Facebook post for deliberately sidelining pro-Besigye MPs and rewarding his supporters.
The party then resolved to talk to him, though he insisted on setting terms.
“I am open to the talks. It is through talks that we solve issues,” Otto told this writer in an interview then.
“If I am pushed to the wall, I will resign immediately, the electoral commission will organize fresh elections and I will come as an independent.”
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