DP hits back at FDC over IPOD summit

The Democratic Party has hit back at its Opposition counterpart Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) for accusing them to have wasted time to attend the Inter- party organisation for Dialogue summit (IPOD) which was held last week.

Addressing journalists at their weekly press conference in Kampala yesterday, DP’s secretary general Gerald Siranda said it was an obstinate character for FDC to quit the summit and still insult those who attended in goodwill.

“The absence of the key player like FDC in the summit was highly regrettable. Nevertheless, even more regrettable is the attempt by those who speak for FDC to heap insults on those who participated in the summit in good faith,” Mr Siranda said.
“We planted a seed and we think it is unfair, naive and shortsighted to demand that we show the harvest immediately,” he added.

Early this month, FDC said it would not participate in the dialogue.
The FDC chairperson, Mr Wasswa Biriggwa, said the U-turn was necessitated by the fact that there had been no ongoing negotiations between the parties’ principals who, in his view, should only meet to endorse matters already agreed by their assistants.

Criticised
Mr Harold Kaija, the FDC deputy secretary general, on Monday castigated Opposition political parties that attended the Ipod, saying they wasted time and nothing discussed would be implemented.

However, Mr Siranda said they will remain steadfast in the hope that sanity will prevail over petty radicalism and demagoguery.
“FDC is a member of IPOD and is expected to support rather than undermine IPOD. We respect their opinion but we urge them to desist from undermining the processes of an organisation they subscribe to,” he said.

Mr Siranda said the IPOD processes are unstoppable and if the FDC does not believe in the organisation, they should withdraw, adding that anything else smacks of hypocrisy and cheap grandstanding.

Our efforts to reach FDC were futile as the officials were not responding to our calls.

Meanwhile, civil society organisations (CSOs) have called for a national dialogue on democracy to fight the shrinking political space in the country.
Mr Fredrick Kawooya, the manager policy, advocacy and campaign from ActionAid Uganda, said dialogue on democracy was necessary because of limited understanding on the role of CSOs in the country where several stakeholders are under threat.
“Currently, many of government actors are still locked in the old model of CSOs providing relief but the phase we are in right now, we expect CSO to engage citizens so that they are active players in the democratisation of the country,” he said.