FDC was right to boycott IPOD summit

After a long day of speeches, cups of coffee, photographs and handshakes, the long anticipated IPOD summit ended with an ocean of rhetoric but with a cup of resolutions.

All political parties with representatives in Parliament attended the summit except FDC. This has sparked a lot of uncalled for and undeserved criticism towards FDC party by some political commentators.

To start with, the reasons, as presented by the FDC chairman, for not attending the summit, were legitimate and very understandable. For instance, does it require a dialogue for the government to know that suppression of freedom of speech is wrong?

Does it need a dialogue to understand that corruption, nepotism, and perversion from constitutionalism and rule of law are blatantly bad vices? No democratic leader would need a dialogue to know that beating journalists in broad daylight on the streets, stopping of a certain musician’s concerts are obvious forms of violation of the fundamental human and constitutional rights. These are too obvious to call for a dialogue!

The only unresolved political question that would require a dialogue is the process of transition. Unfortunately, this is the only item that President Museveni does not want to speak about.

Mr Museveni has publicly stated both vividly and proverbially that he is not about to leave power. Actually during the IPOD summit, he restated it when he told the country that the Opposition only concentrates on “trivialities” like election other than the fundamental issues like prosperity of the people.

It is actually too easy to retrieve the anatomical data about the fish that swallowed the biblical Jonah than convince Mr Museveni to leave power. Mr Museveni does not dialogue. He wants to lecture.

The dialogue only evolved into a photography workshop with no plausible resolutions. FDC should celebrate for not wasting their time. They ultimately won!