The ruling political party, National Resistance Movement (NRM), has boycotted the ongoing handover of the Inter Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) leadership from the Democratic Party (DP) to the main opposition party, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC).
The handover is currently taking place at Fairway Hotel in Kampala where FDC is expected to receive reports summarizing major events and decisions taken during the leadership of DP.
Both DP party President, Norbert Mao and party secretary, Dr. Gerald Siranda who are currently in attendance, are expected to handover leadership. The DP took over IPOD on March 25, 2019.
According to the MOU, IPOD leadership rotates every after six months. The FDC therefore is currently both the chair of the IPOD Summit and IPOD Council. The Summit is composed of leaders of political parties and the Council is composed of the Secretary Generals and other four representatives. The Government and Opposition Whip are also members of the Council.
The FDC party will aim at pushing for the ratification of decisions that were made Munyonyo where IPOD Council deliberated on the management of public rallies. They were supposed to be ratified by the Summit.
President Yoweri Museveni declined to sign on the agreed regulations before not fully constituted Summit. The president said he had given different instructions to his security chiefs and he needed to convene a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the IPOD regulations.
To date, Museveni has not convened the National Security Council to reverse his draconian orders as a result, our rallies and meetings are still being interfered with.
The FDC considers access to the population a major issue in the political processes of our country. Removing the military and Police from our politics if achieved, will be the single most important thing IPOD has ever done. Negotiating an end to the life presidency will be another milestone. This is what the IPOD must strive to achieve.
Currently, IPOD houses for four parties which include; Democratic Party (DP), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and National Resistance Movement (NRM).
IPOD is facilitated by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and was formed to initiate dialogue and exchange of ideas among political parties in the country with a view of improving electoral democracy.
