The NRM National Chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, has said that Uganda would have avoided a lot of problems if there had been dialogue long time ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President was speaking at the second Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) Summit last evening at Protea Hotel in Entebbe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Running under the theme ‘Putting\nUganda First,’ the Summit attracted representatives from different Political\nParties including President General of Democratic Party (DP), Mr. Norbert Mao,\nActing President of Justice Forum (JEEMA) Mr. Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja and President\nof Uganda People\u2019s Congress (UPC), Mr. Jimmy Akena. Forum for Democratic Change\n(FDC) Party leadership boycotted the Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The summit that was funded by the Netherlands\nInstitute for Multi-Party Democracy, sought to address such matters like public\nfunding for political parties, public order management, the issue of\nindependents in a multiparty political system and electoral system reforms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his remarks, President Museveni\ninformed the leaders that the reason why former leaders of Uganda, such as\nKabaka Edward Muteesa and Idi Amin, had failed in their leadership, was because\nthey were very arrogant and failed to dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf they had dialogued, they would\nhave found solutions. If I don\u2019t want to dialogue in politics, I should go home\nand look after my cows. Leaders must be able to talk. It is a Biblical command\nso long as someone has a mouth,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The President told the meeting that they must seek to work for the soci- economic transformation of their people even if they are of the opposition side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He informed them that it was during the time when he was in opposition that he made tremendous changes in his society such as persuading people to stop nomadism and shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of the leaders, he added, told me then that I was misleading the people by telling them to make fences for their farms. Opposition, he observed, does not mean that you don\u2019t work for the progress of your area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis book entitled \u2018From Grass\nThatched to Modern Houses\u2019 captures the work that I did between 1966 and 1995\nwhen I was in opposition,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his opening remarks, IPOD Chairperson, Norbert Mao, noted that the presence of President Museveni at the Summit was an indicator that political decisions were going to be made and met. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that it was also a clear opportunity for the ruling Party to make what he termed \u2018clear-cut decisions that will level the political environment in the country.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the issue of some of Political Parties\nthat had boycotted the Summit, Mao noted that these had to give clear reasons\nas to why they did not attend because all Parties receive Shs.1 billion funding\nfrom the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy and participated in the\nagenda setting in meetings of the IPOD Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Those who boycott should change\ntheir attitude. They refuse to attend because they think it will water down\ntheir image as opposition parties simply because they are sitting in a meeting\nnext to President Museveni. Why would you be uncomfortable in partaking a meal\nwhen you have participated in preparing it?” he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mao\nalso noted that dialogue was very crucial to create peace and stability. He\nreiterated that if they decided to use force, the economic costs of\nconfrontation would be too high for the country to bear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nare all capable of flexing our populist muscles by taking the disputes we have\nwith the ruling party to the streets. But by doing so, we shall be putting the\nfuture of the peaceful co-existence and democratic stability in Uganda at\nstake,\u201d he noted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After\nthe closed session of IPOD had ended, a couple of resolutions were issued in a\njoint communiqu\u00e9 that was read by the organization\u2019s Chairman Nobert Mao and\nsigned by leaders of the different parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1.\nRegarding public funding for Political Parties, it was agreed that funding for\nparties would increase to Shs.35 billion up from Shs.10 billion in the\nfinancial year 2019\/2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2.\nOn Public Order Management (POMA) Bill, it was proposed that the draft POMA\nregulations as proposed by the Council of Secretaries General in concert with\nthe Attorney General and the Prime Minister, be studied by the National\nSecurity Council team and give feedback to IPOD within two months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Turning to the issue of the regulation\nof Independent Candidates, the Summit adopted the proposed draft by\nthe National Consultative Forum with such amendments as have been proposed by\nthe IPOD Council of Secretaries General, including the requirement for\ncertified resignation of an individual from a Political Party 12 months prior\nto general elections; and that once elections are lost in the Party Primaries,\nsuch an individual shall not take part in the General Elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. On electoral reforms, it was\nagreed that candidates sponsored by Parties shall not be required to collect\nsignatures from the electoral areas for representation. A review of the nomination fees is to be made\nto make vying for political offices, be more affordable and inclusive. The IPOD Council shall determine the\nthreshold of the amount refunded to the candidates in case a candidate loses\nelections. It was also noted that the Electoral Commission and the Ministry of\nLocal Government shall harmonize the procedures and processes of coming up with\nnew electoral units and that bye-elections shall be held only when an MP dies\nor resigns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Newly created constituencies and administrative\nunits shall only hold elections in either a specified period, for example,\nwithin the months between May \u2013 July of any given year or to hold such\nelections in the next election cycle to avoid the costs and disruption of over\nelectioneering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acting\nJEEMA President, Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja, appreciated the idea of dialogue\nsaying it was constructive to the nation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday\nwe discussed freely most the issues that have been raised, as each side has\nraised their ideas openly. We shall, therefore, continue supporting dialogue,\u201d\nhe said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nadded that the implementation of what was discussed would show whether the ruling\nparty was serious or not in the next two months.\n\nUPC\nPresident, Jimmy Akena, said despite the fact that there are many issues that\ndifferent parties might not agree, they must forge ahead through dialogue. He noted that UPC is in support of all\ndialogue efforts in order to make a better Uganda. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The NRM National Chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, has said that Uganda would have avoided a lot of problems if there had been dialogue long time ago. The President was speaking at the second Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) Summit last evening at Protea Hotel in Entebbe. Running under the theme ‘Putting Uganda First,’ the Summit […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-9435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n