The Inter-party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) secretariat has said they are in the process of working with all the eligible political parties to work on a new framework for political dialogue after the expiry of its current Memorandum of Understanding in December 2021.
Frank N. Rusa, the IPOD Executive Secretary, said they are interested in a dialogue forum that serves the interests of all Ugandans where all Political Parties are treated equally and their voices respected.
“We are committed to support the efforts of Ugandan political parties to develop a good dialogue framework that works well for all members and puts the interests and aspirations of all Ugandans first. The processes of consultation are currently underway. We are working with the organs of IPOD and the leaderships of the eligible political parties to develop a new roadmap to the new IPOD framework and we hope to have a new framework by the end of this year,” Rusa asserted in a press release on Friday.
IPOD’s revelation follows National Unity Platform (NUP)’s refusal to join the dialogue after accusing the former of being a platform that has largely been used to legitimize a brutal regime that has no regard or respect for democracy.
“The regime uses it (IPOD) for political gain, far from its intended objective of strengthening Uganda’s multiparty democracy. You will agree that in the past ten years of IPOD’s existence in Uganda, the democratic space has shrunk, going from bad to worse every successive year” David Lewis Rubongoya, NUP Secretary General said in a 2nd September letter.
Rubongoya also said that serious discussions about Uganda’s future have been denied audience within the platform and hence NUP is not keen on being part of an exercise that is used as a facade to legitimize an otherwise illegitimate rule.
“We have taken time to study the discussion that has taken place in IPOD over time. In our assessment, the regime has turned it into a forum in which party principals meet for a cup of tea, followed by a photo opportunity.”
IPOD brings together political parties with representation in Parliament with an aim of addressing challenges affecting Uganda.
See IPOD’s statement:
Dear friends from the media.
As you may have heard or read from the media, NUP wrote a letter to me expressing reservations to join IPOD at this time due to a number of reasons. Find below our take as the IPOD secretariat:
The current IPOD MoU runs till December 2021. The practice around admission of new members has been that whenever a political party gets its first member(s) of Parliament during a running term of IPOD, it becomes eligible to join IPOD and it is therefore formally invited to express interest as was the case with JEEMA who joined in October 2018 after getting their 1st member of Parliament after a by election in Bugiri Municipality.
It is in that spirit that People Progressive Party(PPP) and National Unity Platform(PPP) which both now have MPs in the 11th Parliament of Uganda have been invited to express interest to join IPOD . NUP has expressed reservations about joining right now and PPP is yet to formally respond to the invitation.
As the IPOD secretariat, we are in the process of working with all the eligible political parties to work on a new framework for political dialogue under IPOD after the expiry of the current MoU in December 2021.
In this regard, all current members of IPOD (DP, FDC, JEEMA, NRM and UPC) and all other new eligible parties like NUP and PPP will be extensively consulted to deliberate on the kind of dialogue framework that should be put in place to respond to the needs and aspirations of Ugandan citizens.
As the IPOD secretariat, we are interested in a dialogue forum that serves the interests of all Ugandans where all Political Parties are treated equally and their voices respected. We are committed to support the efforts of Ugandan political parties to develop a good dialogue framework that works well for all members and puts the interests and aspirations of all Ugandans first.
The processes of consultation are currently underway. We are working with the organs of IPOD and the leaderships of the eligible political parties to develop a new roadmap to the new IPOD framework and we hope to have a new framework by the end of this year.
Frank N. Rusa
Executive Secretary,
IPOD.
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