Party cooperation: The tea party crumbles

 
On Wednesday last week, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) became the latest political player to announce it was withdrawing its membership from the State House founded inter-party committee. This effectively marked another failure yet again at joint effort to resolve Uganda's nagging political questions. Inside Politics' MERCY NALUGO investigates the collapse of this latest effort.

On July 28, 2006 five months after the presidential elections, President Museveni invited the people he had trounced to State Housein the elections ealier in February to purposely forge a working relationship with the opposition.

All attended save for the main challenger Forum for Democratic Change (FDC). The meeting went ahead anyway. It agreed to set up an inter-party committee with two nominees from each of the cooperating parties and those that have representation in Parliament.

Former presidential candidates Ssebaana Kizito (Democratic Party), Miria Kalule Obote (Uganda Peoples Congress) and independent Dr Abed Bwanika attended the talks with three representatives each. Besigye and his FDC stayed away.

President Museveni said the meeting was aimed at creating an atmosphere that " politics is not war". "It is both symbolism and substantive."
The parties submitted to President Museveni their memoranda and the government was tasked to come up with a working document.

Room was left for parties with representation in Parliament that did not attend the initial State House talks to submit their memoranda and two nominees to join the team.
FDC insisted it would stay away and joked that the meeting at State House was no more than a tea party. The party demanded that the Constitutionally provided for Inter-Party forum instead be advanced. Besigye, the FDC leader demanded a "neutral" chairman and not Museveni. He also protested State House as being the venue for their meeting[s]. That was in July.

Now hardly a year later, the inter party committee has disintegrated and is at the edge of total collapse after two of the major opposition parties announced they were pulling out.

UPC, one of the old parties in Uganda was all praises for the inter party committee at its formation and had high hopes in it until last Wednesday when they officially announced they had pulled out citing harassment of the opposition by the government.

Prior to their pulling out, they said in the September 27 press release that the Inter-party Committee is the most appropriate forum to address several national issues raised in its memorandum.

They vowed to follow the implementation of the inter party committee to its logical conclusion. "Issues like Truth and Reconciliation, proper management of economy and natural resources, and the need for a national conference are central to UPC Manifesto," said its leader Ms Miria Obote.

They concluded that Uganda Peoples Congress would continue to participate in the constitutional forum and use it to engage government. But in a weekly briefing at Uganda House, Miria announced last week that UPC had decided to pull out of the inter party dialogue owing to the existing state of affairs in the country.
She said the opposition is under continuous intimidation from the state and that there is lack of transparency in the country.

"In view of the circumstances prevailing in the country, UPC has decided to suspend its participation in the inter party committee with immediate effect until there are real actions to stop harassment of the opposition,'' Miria told journalists at the party's Uganda House headquarters.

She argued that despite the country's return to multi party political system, opposition parties have not been allowed to operate freely and often times they have been denied the right to hold peaceful assemblies and rallies. But if UPC were to go by their word, it would have engaged government by discussing the problem before pulling out of the talks.
Although they noted the committee had not met for long.

The inter-party committee last met in December and the government has not consulted them on any matter since.

The NRM's Secretary General, Amama Mbabazi who represents the NRM on the committee seems to be too busy with his ministerial and other responsibilities at his parent party-NRM-- that he cannot convene any meetings.

When UPC reminded him that they should meet, Mbabazi reportedly said he had a lot of work to do including the issue of the northern war, Somalia and organizing the NRM NEC meeting that took place last week.

This renders the inter party committee useless because this is the time the government should have come in to seek their views on such important state matters.
The Democratic Party pulled out last year in December saying the committee was more like an alliance with the NRM.
The party's legal adviser, Erias Lukwago opposed the committee right from its start saying it was illegal.

"I opposed it from the word go because it was illegal. There is a legal inter party forum which is embedded in the Constitution. The committee is more or less a coalition with the NRM,'' Lukwago says.

Article 71(2) of the Constitution provides that "Parliament by law prescribes a code of conduct for Political Parties and Organizations and provide for the establishment of a National Consultative Forum for Political Parties and Organizations with such functions as Parliament may prescribe".

"In principle I opposed it as the party legal advisor because it is a stillbirth. Government wanted to circumvent us," he adds.He said the forum regulates the inter-party relations in a multiparty system.

This leaves the ruling National Resistance Movement, the Conservative Party and former independent presidential candidate Dr Abed Bwanika in the lifeless party committee.
Though Emmanuel Tumusiime who was chairman of Dr Bwanika's campaign, and accompanied him on the first meeting, says the inter party committee was never meant to last. Mr Tumusiime who heads the Forum for Integrity in Leadership (FIL) party says what the parties want is the constitutionally provided forum.

FDC might have anticipated that definitely the committee would not work out and that government was taking the parties for a ride. They reason that the inter-party committee is supposed to be an independent committee.

The President of the Peoples Progressive Party, Mr Bidandi Ssali cautioned political parties against joining the inter-party committee. He said the parties would end up being collaborators of President Museveni "in building a dictatorial one-party state" Bidandi said since the Constitution provided for the establishment of a national inter-party consultative forum, the parties should have called for the hastening of the Bill in Parliament to provide for the forum.

The committee seems all but dead and its mother and nurse, President Museveni and the NRM seem uninterested in its survival, what is not clear though is; will the main opposition parties rediscover their now discarded Group of Six (G6) cooperation?