The Forum for Democratic Change-FDC has threatened to boycott the second Inter-party for Dialogue (IPOD) summit slated for May 15th, 2019.
Addressing a press conference yesterday at their offices in Najjanankumbi, Kampala, the FDC president, Mr Patrick Amuriat, said police have on several occasions brutally dispersed the party rallies and meetings in various parts of the country.
He said the IPOD, which is mandated to defend and fight for protection of all Opposition political parties, has not condemned or done anything about it.
“We are members of the IPOD and we have been informed about the forthcoming summit next month. If we continue to be treated the way we have been treated, we shall boycott the summit,” Mr Amuriat said.
“This is the notice we are putting to IPOD and the ruling National Resistance Movement. We are also considering non-participation in all the donor-funded activities that support growth of the political party because we are not reaping anything,” he added.
The party boycotted the first IPOD summit of party leaders held in November last year over the same reasons. The summit was attended by President Museveni, the national chairman of the ruling National Resistance Movement-NRM party.
IPOD, which brings together political parties represented in parliament, is funded by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy-NIMD. Currently, IPOD members are drawn from the Democratic Party (DP), National Resistance Movement (NRM), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Uganda Peoples’ Congress (UPC) and Justice Forum (JEEMA).
Amuriat says they expected government to scale down harassment after first IPOD summit. FDC’s protests were presented to president Museveni by other opposition party leaders who attended the summit. FDC started countrywide mobilization activities last month, which have heavely been disrupted by police.
IPOD last week condemned police for harassment of party leaders and called for implementation of laws in non-partisan manner. The IPOD Council chairperson, Gerald Siranda said the actions of police are against the spirit of last year’s IPOD summit, which called for respect of opposition parties when they organise events.
“As IPOD council comprising of five parties in parliament namely; Democratic Party, National Resistance Movement,, Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda Peoples’ Congress and JEEMA, we strongly condemn the continued harassment of our members,” Siranda said during IPOD council press conference.”
He says they represent peoples’ views like those of Algerians and recently Sudanese who caused change of government through mass protests.
IPOD last week announced that they are in partnership with Office of the Prime Minister and will be hosting a conference next week to discuss dialogue on the implementation of Public Order Management Act (POMA).
