JEEMA statement on IPOD summit Verbatim

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Here is a full statement from JEEMA party on the upcoming IPOD summit slated for next week.

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Over the past two days, the media has been awash with news that our other colleagues at FDC had withdrawn from the IPOD summit slated for next week on 12th December at Speke Resort Munyonyo. There were also reports that DP had also boycotting.

However a statement from DP signed by Secretary General Blacks Siranda pointed to ongoing consultations within the party on the matter. It should be noted that before JEEMA’s brief exit from the IPOD, we had decried the lack of meeting of the Summit as the NRM Chairman Mr. Yoweri Museveni was never available for IPOD issues.

It’s that position we found on the table when we were readmitted to the platform this year and our efforts were geared at seeing all IPOD internal processes are actualized. We take our commitments to IPOD seriously and we are not blind to the crucial benefits that our parties in the areas of party capacity development have gained through relationship with NIMD, the host to IPOD, over the years.

As a matter of fact, all IPOD activities gain consensus within IPOD members and nothing happens out of the blue. On that note, I wish to state that all Member Parties agreed to hold the Summit with the top most leadership of NRM under their Chairman Yoweri Museveni, (not as Head of State) because some members did not feel comfortable with it based on the out comes of the 2016 Presidential elections.

This is the position from all member parties and we have not had any other meeting to amend or quash the proposed SUMMIT meeting slated for next week. On that note, we wish to call upon our colleagues to respect the outcomes of the meeting we have had in preparations of the SUMMIT much as we as a party do not expect much to be agreed on based on the nature and handling of State affairs by the NRM.

Inter Party arrangements have never been easy, even amongst fellow opposition parties. But this is a process worth investing in, given the tremendous impact a similar process had on Ghana’s transition to democracy. It is Ghana that served as the model for IPOD.

We wish to call upon our colleagues to urgently bring back all the issues to the IPOD Council so that we agree the next course of action, instead of appearing to be acting in a disjointed manner. The electorate we claim to represent through our parties are watching our every step.

They desire to see more order amongst us, even in disagreement.
JEEMA as a party does not fear negotiation, but never negotiates out of fear. We believe that there is no subject too difficult to discuss. That is what separates ordinarily politicians from Statesmen and Women.

Kateregga Muhamad

SG, JEEMA