The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) has contrary to earlier reports agreed to take over the new leadership of Inter Party Dialogue ( IPOD) a summit that brings together all political parties in the country including the ruling NRM.
Patrick Oboi Amuriat (POA) being the FDC president will become the chairman of this summit for the next 6 months as per regulations of the summit.
Speaking to the media on Monday at the party head offices, Hon Ssemujju Nganda, the FDC publicist dismissed reports that his party had rejected to takeover the IPOD leadership.
“The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) rejects any insinuation made by some of our colleagues in the Inter Party Dialogue (IPOD) that we are reluctant to take up the leadership of this voluntary organization upon expiry of the term of office of the Democratic Party (DP),” he said in a statement.
The term of office for the Democratic Party expired on September 25th and the FDC legally according to our Memorandum of Understanding, took over the IPOD leadership.
According to the MOU, IPOD leadership rotates every after six months.
“The FDC therefore is currently both the chair of the IPOD Summit and IPOD Council. The Summit is composed of leaders of political parties and the Council is composed of the Secretary Generals and other four representatives. The Government and Opposition Whip are also members of the Council,” said Ssemujju.
“The DP President General Hon. Nobert Mao and DP Secretary General Dr. Gerald Siranda have been the IPOD leaders respectively.”
The FDC has taken over and await the official handover ceremony and handover reports from both Hon. Mao and Dr. Siranda.
The DP took over IPOD on March 25th 2019. The FDC Secretary General Hon. Nandala Mafabi will in consultation with the IPOD Summit Chair Hon. Eng. Patrick Amuriat present proposals on the issues the FDC wants IPOD to consider in the next six months of our leadership.
Ssemujju added that the FDC is aware of some maneuver by some IPOD colleagues to illegally handover leadership to another party.
“They want to skip FDC because it refused to sit on the same table with the dictator Yoweri Museveni.”
“The FDC would like to remind the country and our colleagues in IPOD that this organization was formed to strengthen multiparty in Uganda and a culture of democracy.
IPOD Council sat and agreed on management of public rallies and meetings sometime back in Munyonyo. We, the five political parties represented in Parliament, agreed on a set of regulations. They were supposed to be ratified by the Summit.”
“Unfortunately, when our colleagues convened a not fully constituted Summit, Museveni refused to sign on the agreed regulations. He told them that he had given different instructions to his security chiefs and he needed to convene a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the IPOD regulations.
To date, Museveni has not convened the National Security Council to reverse his draconian orders. As a result, our rallies and meetings are still being interfered with.
The FDC considers access to the population a major issue in the political processes of our country. Removing the military and Police from our politics if achieved, will be the single most important thing IPOD has ever done. Negotiating an end to the life presidency will be another milestone. This is what the IPOD must strive to achieve,” Ssemujju further stated.
He concluded that, “there are colleagues who accuse us of benefitting from IPOD money yet we don’t want to meet with Museveni. We want and we will advise colleagues not to create an impression out there that IPOD is all about money.”