FDC To Honour Idd Amin’s Legacy, Says Amuriat

ARUA. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) President, Eng. Patrick Oboi Amuriat, has promised to the people of West Nile that as a party, they are going to honour the legacy of former President of Uganda, Idd Amin Dada.

According to Amuriat, Amin left a mark in the history of Uganda which no one should attempt to wash down.

Amuriat made the remarks while addressing hundreds of FDC supporters during the official launch of the party’s e-registration exercise at Arua primary school in Arua Central Division, Arua City on Saturday, July 27, 2024.

“As FDC, we are going to honour the legacy of Idd Amin Dada. Museveni’s NRM people claim Idd Amin never went to school, but a man they claim never went to school never sold the properties of Uganda. The man they claim never went to school built Uganda House in New York, in Brussels, in London, in Nairobi and so on… Idd Amin left a mark in the history of our country,” Amuriat said.

He added that: “Amin built Uganda Hotels across the country, in every corner of this country. What did these people who claim to be educated to PHD level do to those assets? They sold all those assets to their relatives, friends and in-laws. From what Idd Amin, the son of West Nile did, these people came to destroy.”

Amuriat also reminded the people of West Nile that when Idd Amin died, President Museveni refused his body to be brought back to Uganda, a clear indication that he hates Amin and his people of the region.

“When Idd Amin died, I was still a Member of Parliament (MP). Mr. Museveni was visiting Soroti which is my home town, and he said who is Idd Amin for people to demand his body to be brought back here. I even wouldn’t touch his body with a long stick. That is how Museveni treats you the people of West Nile,” Amuriat said thus attracting a lot of sympathy from more than 100 NRM supporters who immediately surrendered their party cards, Shirts and T-Shirts to Amuriat and crossed to FDC party there and then.

“Listen to me today, if Amin was still alive, that Airport would be to an international standard and people would be flying from outside the country to Arua and even directly without going to Entebbe. Today, Museveni has turned everybody into a paper, all of us are poor, especially the young people. And when the young people go to Congo looking for a few items to earn a living, when the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) finds you, they collober you, they kill you,” Amuriat emphasized.

Amuriat noted that he has come to West Nile to tell the people that they still have unfinished business when it comes to the development of the region.

He said West Nile continues to be the dark region of Uganda despite several years of showing loyalty to the ruling NRM party led by President Museveni.

“Thirty-nine years of NRM, 39 years of Museveni, West Nile still uses the generator to fire whatever activities you like here to light the place. The message I want to pass to Mr. Museveni is that he must light up West Nile using hydroelectricity before the next election otherwise, he will be in trouble. West Nile is the forgotten region of Uganda. Museveni does the roads in West Nile after he has done all the roads in other parts of the country, so you people of West Nile you get remnants from the NRM,” Amuriat stated.

Amuriat later encouraged the people of West Nile to use the opportunity to embrace the e-registration exercise so as to become FDC members in order to remove President Museveni from power.

Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the FDC Party Secretary General, called for unity in the party and asked the former party members who had left to come back to Najjanankumbi.

“If I have wronged you, forgive me, so that God can forgive you. In the party of FDC, if there is anybody under the leadership of POA and Nandala we have wronged, we ask for forgiveness because for us we have forgiven them already. We want to be united, you must come back to the party if you have left, even if you are in another party, you are welcome so that we can take power together,” Nandala appealed.

Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, the FDC Deputy President in charge of Northern Uganda, said those who thought the FDC party was dead can now see for themselves that the party is still very vibrant in all parts of the country.

“In Arua here, the people of Arua have grievances towards the government. The people of Arua are opposition oriented because of the pain they have; things to do with the under development of the place, the poverty rate is high here, problems of lack of electricity, poor industrialization, poor performance in education and health visibility is low generally. We therefore want to help our people to understand the e-system so that they can join the FDC party to remove Museveni and his NRM party from power,” Fungaroo explained.

Meanwhile Denis Lee Oguzu, the Maracha County MP (FDC), observed that the world is going digital, a reason FDC can’t afford to miss out on this digital revolution.

“We need to be able to track our supporters and actually show that they exist and that requires us to link personality to their IDs to conclude that these people exist. Anytime some political parties rely on forged data and FDC wanted to avoid that going forward. We want to invest in technology so that we can leverage the benefits of technology,” Oguzu said.

The rally which was preceded by a bicycle race showed many youths who participated being rewarded with brand new bicycles and cash by the party’s top leadership.