Secretary General of the ruling National Resistance Movement party (NRM), Justine Kasule Lumumba, has urged political parties to embrace peace so as to enable the Government deliver services to Ugandans.
Lumumba says as a mother, a grandmother and a national political leader has chosen peace to pave way for efficient delivery of services to Ugandans by government.
“Anybody can be a victim and nobody can control reactions of whatever actions or words we say. So we should choose peace,” said Lumumba.
Lumumba made the statement while talking to Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) political leaders during its leadership transition meeting from Justice Forum party (Jeema) to NRM where she had led the ruling party’s troops to officially receive the mantle.
According to Mulengera publications, IPOD is a dialogue platform supported by the Netherlands Institute of Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) that brings together political parties in Uganda with representation in Parliament for dialogue.
So far it has facilitated interparty agreements and discussions on areas such as law enforcement and electoral reforms, among several others. The current five member parties cycle the chair position between them, ensuring no one party can dominate the dialogue and trust-building processes it oversees.
Since 2018, it has convened two special dialogue summits for party leaders of Democratic Party, Justice Forum, National Resistance Movement and Uganda Peoples’ Congress, which included President Yoweri Museveni alongside other party leaders.
.
At the end of last November, IPOD saw a new leadership cycle begin, with the Chair passing from Norbert Mao of the Democratic Party (DP) to Patrick Oboi Amuriat of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Asuman Basalirwa of Jeema.
Lumumba hailed Jeema for providing good leadership during its tenure at IPOD summit, specifically praising the opposition party’s secretary general, Muhammad Kateregga, for his “right attitude of leading political leaders.”
She said Jeema, in addition to making steps to institutionalize IPOD; it also helped the Government to actualize the issue of funding of political parties. Lumumba added that it was only during the reign of Jeema that the Government started funding activities of political parties unlike during FDC’s tenure.
“On the issues to do with funding of political parties, I want us to use the expertise of DP president who is a lawyer by profession; that we need interpretation of the law. Once we get interpretation of the law, it settles and even tones down the language we use as leaders of this country,” said Lumumba.
She called for tolerance among the political class, saying they are in it together and no one should run away from ensuring peace in the country.
Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja, Jeema founding leader, who represented Basalirwa to hand over the mantle to NRM, noted the challenges the party has faced during its IPOD leadership.
“My president Mr. Basalirwa wanted IPOD to shine. He wanted to contact all heads of political parties to discuss how to achieve IPOD objectives. He met DP, UPC and FDC leaders and wrote to President Museveni but we didn’t get any reply from the President. He wanted to arrange for IPOD summit but he got stuck when he failed to meet the President. That is not the best way of handling IPOD matters,” complained Mayanja.
Mayanja further took issue with the way security agencies mishandle Ugandans especially during opposition political functions, calling upon them to always consider citizen’s peace and safety.
“There was no justification whatsoever for Police and the military to kill 60 innocent Ugandans who were unarmed just because they were demonstrating. In fact those who were shot dead were not in action but were shot at random. How does enforcing SOPs to safeguard lives of citizens lead to killing 60 Ugandans? It doesn’t make sense. Those who are supposed to protect our lives should not be the ones killing us innocently. I don’t think Covid-19 has killed 60 Ugandans in a particular one day as the security agents did,” lamented Mayanja.
Mayanja demanded that an impartial commission of inquiry is instituted to query the killing of civilians and the findings be made public.
Mao noted that he was glad the handing over of IPOD leadership took place in the heat of campaigns ahead of the January14, 2021 general polls, and expressed his reservations on whether NRM that would be in charge of facilitating health political conversations on difficult matters would discharge it impartially.
“We are choosing peace in order to address violence but I like dealing with cause and effect. We want to address violence but what is the cause of political violence in Uganda? There is a sense of frustration and anger among Ugandans,” said Mao.
He added: “We had a Constitution and it gave us presidential term limits. However bad the president is, we thought we would tolerate him for 10 years. But that was removed. The violence and anger you see people with is a sign of frustration and we must deal with it. The security agents may temporarily sooth it by use of force but eventually the cancer will only grow.”
Mao noted that security agents have often been seen in the heat of campaigns and Election Day moving with sticks and guns to intimidate civilians to vote for a specific candidate. He said President Museveni should tone down on intimidating Ugandans that he would crash them.
“I call upon all those advocating for peace to also advocate for justice and truth because truth and justice are the two sides of the coin of peace. It will be empty posturing for us to pretend that there will be peace where there is no truth and justice,” explained Mao.
He hailed Jeema’s leadership, noting that there was no political disorientation in the sister opposition party.
FDC Deputy Secretary General, Harold Kaija, blamed NRM for taking the lion’s share of the funds meant for political parties, thereby inhibiting their growth and development.
“We needed a giant conversation platform to achieve transition but are we on course? Do we still need this platform? NRM feels we can’t share. They feel if opposition parties get funds, they will grow bigger and out-compete them. NRM feels safe when we are weak,” said Kaija.
He added: “If you are not interested with whoever is capable of replacing you, then you are doomed. If you are not empowering them to become strong, we shall be having a weak side taking power and we shall go the Somalia way. I feel saddened that it’s NRM that is taking over IPOD leadership.”
IPOD Executive Director, Frank Russa, hailed the peaceful handover of leadership from Jeema to NRM. He added that for the last 10 years, the NIMD has been honored to host IPOD secretariat and also to play key facilitative roles to promote dialogue within and outside Ugandan political parties.
Russa thanked the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs which he said has for the last 10 years funded IPOD.
“We are proud to have been associated with this important work for the last 10 years that puts Uganda above political differences. NIMD has been running a political support programme in the broad areas of gender mainstreaming, youth leadership development and conflict resolution, among others,” added Russa
