Opposition parties demand implementation of IPOD council resolutions

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Opposition political parties under the Inter-party Organization for Dialogue-IPOD have asked the government to implement resolutions that were passed by the IPOD summit.

The call was made on Tuesday at Mestil Hotel in Kampala where IPOD member parties converged to welcome a new member-the People’s Progressive Party-PPP. The party has one seat in parliament following the victory of Santa Abalo Okot, as Member of Parliament Aruu North County.

The parties say that various summit resolutions have remained on paper. The summit is a meeting between heads of IPOD member political parties.

Muhammad Mayanja, the chairman of JEEMA, says that the summit passed regulations regarding the implementation of the Public Order Management Act-POMA, are yet to be implemented by the government.

The Council of Secretaries-General drafted POMA regulations which were sent to the security council. Mayanja says that heads of parties agreed that in the implementation of POMA, police shall not give permission to the public before holding a public sitting but rather be notified.

Mayanja added that the summit agreed to increase the amount of money given to political parties as provided for under the Political Parties and Political Organizations’ Act from 10 billion shillings to 35 billion shillings. They further agreed that funds be shared equally during the election year not based on numerical strength.

Mayanja says that although the government has implemented the increment, they are yet to share the fund equally during the election year. He adds that currently, the NRM party which has the largest number of Members of Parliament takes the lions share.

Harold Kaija, the Deputy Secretary-General of the FDC says that failure to implement resolutions and fulfilling the objectives of IPOD could be the reason why some members have shunned joining the organization.

Following the January 2021 elections, two parties, the PPP and the National Unity Platform-NUP secured seats in parliament and qualified to join IPOD. Both parties were invited to join IPOD but while PPP welcomed the invite, NUP rejected it citing failure to implement summit resolutions.

Kaija also says that FDC projected that IPOD would be a vehicle to a peaceful transition of power but what is happening seems to be contrary to their expectations.

Jimmy Akena, the President of the Uganda People’s Congress-UPC said that often they held dialogues with the President but admitted implementation is a challenge.

The President of the Democratic Party-DP Nobert Mao, highlighted the need to promote national unity and reconciliation, promote peace and security and promote democracy.

Mao said dialogue is a good measure for political parties to discuss issues arising in society including issues of contention.

The chairman of the PPP Saddam Gayira said that they are aware of the challenges IPOD faces including failure to implement resolutions. He however said that PPP which values dialogue, reconciliation, and peace could not turn down the invitation to join the organization.

The joining of PPP brings the number of IPOD member parties to six; the FDC, NRM, UPC, DP, and JEEMA.

The parties are still operating under an old Memorandum of Association-MoU which expired last year but the current Chairperson of the IPOD Council and NRM Secretary-General Richard Todwong says that they are in the consultation stage of drafting another MoU.

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