DP ready to hand over IPOD leadership

The Democratic Party (DP) has finally agreed to hand over leadership of the Inter-Party Organisations for Dialogue (IPOD) to the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.

IPOD is a platform that brings together parties with representation in parliament including the National Resistance Movement (NRM), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and Justice Forum (JEEMA) and is supported by the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD).

The IPOD leadership rotates among subscribing the parties. The term of DP expired on September 20, 2019. DP was expected to handover the IPOD leadership to FDC but this didn’t happen then as the former claimed that FDC had not been committed to the organisation, thus doubting their commitment to the leadership.

DP demanded that FDC writes to commit to lead IPOD, a proposal that was flatly rejected by Uganda’s biggest opposition party, arguing the parties are guided by a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which stipulates that each party should hold power for six months and handover. The MoU, FDC argued did not demand writing a commitment letter.

Now, Norbert Mao, the DP President, says they are ready to meet FDC and discuss the handover. This is contained in his November 20 letter to the Executive Secretary of IPOD Frank Rusa.

Mao says they will be meeting the FDC party president, Patrick Amuriat and will hand over by the end of November.

“I wish to inform you that after meeting the president of FDC in a few days’ time, we should organize a handover ceremony before the end of this month. A lot of damage has been done and none of the IPOD members has been left unscathed. It is now up to all of us to repair the damage, mend fences and heal the broken relationship. I will update you after we have met with the FDC President,” reads the letter in part.

Although FDC is set to take over the IPOD leadership, it has been known to be distant from some of its activities. FDC boycotted the IPOD summit in 2018 and May 2019. FDC refused to be a part of a meeting to which, the ruling NRM was part. FDC accused the NRM party of the continued crack down on opposition events using security under the guise of enforcing the Public Order Management Act 2013.

They also accused the NRM of infringing on their freedom of expression and association.
However, FDC’s decision to snub the summit has been interpreted by some as an act of intolerance for NRM.

Mao in his letter also expressed dismay that if IPOD cannot resolve matters such as the attitude of one member towards another then it will not be able to tackle the problems that Uganda faces.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand. IPOD members have to find common ground. After all, dialogue is not an end in itself. It is but a means to an end,” Mao said.

The FDC spokesperson, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda in a phone interview said that FDC is ready like before to meet DP and any other opposition party.

‘’There would be no problem these people wanting to meet an FDC leader, because we are fighting a common ground as the opposition, the only person we will not meet is President Museveni,” Semujju said.

Party president Amuriat said also reiterated that the party is ready to take over the IPOD leadership. He says that they couldn’t put their commitment into writing because it isn’t a condition in the MoU that guides the parties.

“We will take over and as FDC, it will be our responsibility as leaders for the next six months to chair IPOD meetings and to offer the necessary guidance. What guides us is the IPOD MoU and whatever we discuss must be reached to a consensus by the other members,” Mr Amuriat said.

Frank Rusa, the IPOD Executive Secretary told URN that they have been engaging the parties to see that there is transfer of leadership, adding that he is glad that DP is set for the handover. He says that as the IPOD secretariat, they are ready to support the parties to achieve the goals of the organisations.