A two day regional conference for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) conference is scheduled for Gulu on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
The conference is expected to discuss grassroots recruitment of new members and planning for LC1 and LC2 elections and ironing out differences among party members.
Government recently announced that the LC1 and LC2 elections will be held in January 2017.
According to FDC officials, Gulu has been chosen to host the conference which will have party representatives from seven districts in northern Uganda.
Over 250 FDC delegates, including National Party President, Secretary General, Mugisha Muntu, Members of Parliament, district party Chairpersons, district LCV Chairpersons and party youth, among others will attend the event.
Wilson Oyat Chagga, the Gulu district FDC party Secretary General said healing divisions in the party will be top of the agenda.
Mr Oyat further explained that following the bitter disagreements among party faithfuls during this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, no formal meetings had been held to manage the conflicts in the party.
The 2016 general elections turned into a breaking point for FDC members in Acholi sub region with dozens choosing to run on Independent ticket. These included Reagan Okumu, the Aswa County Member of Parliament who is also the FDC Vice President for northern region and Phillip Polly Okin, the Chua West Constituency.
Okumu was dragged to court by former Gulu Municipality MP, Christopher Acire after he Acire cited irregularities in the election.
Acire questioned how Okumu was picked the party to be the flagbearer for Aswa.
Gulu High Court later ruled that Acire is the official FDC party flagbearer but the Electoral Commission had already printed the ballot papers forcing both them to run as Independents.
In August this year, Maj Gen Muntu Mugisha held a closed door meeting in Gulu town after a disagreement among FDC members on who to support as FDC flagbearer for the Omoro District LCV Chairperson seat.
However Muntu’s intervention did not yield fruits as FDC remained split with the one section of the party supporting Simon Toolit Akecha while another supported NRM –leaning independent candidate Okello Douglas Peter who eventually won the race.
Other issues to be discussed at the Gulu conference include the January 2017 LC 1 and LC2 elections and filling the gaps in the FDC grassroots structures.
