In principle I agree with dialogue, although not just for the sake of it
Last week, a group of Opposition political parties with representation in Parliament met with President Museveni, who is also the chairman of National Resistance Movement (NRM), under the Inter-Party Organisations for Dialogue (IPOD) framework.
This meeting was for the top decision making organ of IPOD called summit. The summit brings together all heads of member political parties, secretaries general and other top party officials.
The meeting of the summit had been long overdue with Gen Museveni being permanently absent. Summit can’t meet and deliberate on issues meaningfully in the absence of any of the party heads.
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), a founder member and leading Opposition party in Parliament, however, boycotted the meeting citing ill preparation on the side of the Opposition political parties.
The FDC has, subsequently, been accused by NRM and Opposition parties alike of harbouring selfish intentions. In fact, it is alleged that the FDC and Dr Kizza Besigye, with the help of a foreign country, have been having secret talks with the NRM and Gen Museveni with a view of hammering a bilateral deal that would alienate the other Opposition political parties and by extension, the people of Uganda.
Whether this accusation is true or false, we don’t know, but one thing is for sure, history never lies, we shall in due course get to know the truth. It is, nonetheless, important that we don’t allow Gen Museveni’s propaganda machine to continuously sow seeds of discord amongst us. We have for far too long allowed the regime to exploit small cracks in our midst to its advantage.
That said, I am an avid proponent of dialogue as a means of resolving political contestations because political violence which has characterised most of the post-independence political life of several African countries, has not resolved many of our political problems. Political violence has, in fact, worsened our political problems.
We have witnessed and experienced untold misery and suffering occasioned by violence in our short post-independence political history.
This has manifested in unnecessary loss of human life, property and economic retrogression. As a people, we should thus resolve never to resort to violence while addressing our political differences.
However, dialogue should not be pursued for the sake of it. Any dialogue undertaking, especially the type that carries the potential of changing the political landscape, should have a very clear agenda, objectives, participants and a mechanism for implementation of outcomes. These are imperatives that should constitute the parameters for engagement in any dialogue process.
Gen Museveni is an avid believer in violence. He wrote his degree thesis on this. He captured state power after waging a violent civil war in central Uganda for five years.
He has maintained his grip on power using violence. In 1985, during the infamous Nairobi Peace Talks, he lured Gen. Tito Okello’s regime into believing that they should dialogue to peacefully end the war that he and others had waged against that government.
Whereas Gen Tito Okello and his regime offered to genuinely dialogue with Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Army (NRA), to end the turmoil resulting from the war, Mr. Museveni was busy commanding his soldiers to advance and take over Kampala. More recently, when he and Lord’s Resistance Army Leader Joseph Kony were persuaded to talk peace to end the long vicious war that raged in northern Uganda, he did not commit seriously to the peace process.
So, while in principle, I agree that we need to dialogue with Gen. Museveni and his regime, under IPOD and any other framework, including the proposed National Dialogue; I strongly believe that we need to institute a fool proof process that will guarantee that we get the desired outcomes. Otherwise, Mr. Museveni, as his track record shows, is not very keen on dialogue.
We can’t thus rely on his magnanimity alone.
Also, as Opposition political parties, we need to mobilise and organise Ugandans to create a political dynamic that will make dialogue the only alternative for Gen. Museveni. In other words, we should make it risky for him not to dialogue.
Such a situation will compel him to dialogue in a meaningful manner with the political Opposition. As it is currently, Mr Museveni is in a comfort zone.
The author is a political commentator.
[email protected]
