UPC blames failed national dialogue on selfishness

Mr Jimmy Akena’s Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) faction has blamed the failure to achieve national dialogue on selfishness and greed among key political players who forget about the needs of citizens.
“Stakeholders especially political leaders who show interest to dialogue with government always have their own selfish ambitions and always fail to address issues concerning ordinary citizens,” said the party spokesperson, Michael Osinde as he addressed the media on Wednesday at their party headquarters in Kampala.
Mr Osinde added that the failure by political leaders to treat themselves as equals has also hindered dialogue pointing at these as the major contributors to the collapse of The Democratic Alliance (TDA) and the Opposition Inter-Party Coalition in Uganda.

“These political organizations collapsed because of individual egos with some key players thinking they are bigger and stronger than others,” he said hinting at Mr Olara Otunnu and Joseph Bbosa who allegedly wanted to ‘sell’ the party to TDA for their selfish interests.
Mr Osinde called for peace and reconciliation this New Year by and urged all UPC party members who were “misled to come back to the party” promising to dialogue and reconcile with them.
“If we had allowed to be sold in TDA, UPC would be no more but thanks to the party president, Jimmy Akena who forecasted the future. To those who wanted to sell us, we are willing to reconcile and dialogue with them,” he said.

He also welcomed the idea of the secret meeting between former presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi and President Yoweri Museveni and the idea of Dr Kizza Besigye calling for the same as a constructive move.
According to Mr Osinde, the opposition dialoguing with President Museveni is not a weakness but rather a strength that can transform the society if it is well structured under a stipulated agenda manifesting the concerns of the people.