By Spy Uganda
Leaders of opposition political parties in Uganda are set to meet the Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, so as to discuss remedies to increased brutality from the police and army.
This was revealed Monday morning in a statement released by Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, who revealed that the Secretary Generals of political parties with representation in Parliament will, in an effort to save the 2021 general elections, meet Dr Rugunda this Wednesday, March 4th, 2020.
Ssemujju noted that the meeting will be held under the auspices of the Inter-Party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD).
As such, FDC Secretary General Hon. Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the chairman of IPOD Council, will lead the delegation.
According to Ssemujju, the meeting which should reassert the right interpretation of the Public Order Management Act (POMA) arrived at between IPOD and Dr Rugunda in 2015.
He contends that this has been necessitated by the continued violence against the opposition ahead of the elections.
Ssemujju states that “Last week, a citizen Ritah Nabukenya, was murdered by Police as she travelled to attend a consultative meeting by presidential aspirant Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi.
A second citizen, Daniel Kyeyune, was shot dead by Local Defence Unit as he travelled with Kyagulanyi from the burial of Nabukenya.
And for two days Police, LDU and UPDF beat up FDC members and supporters in Bugiri, Jinja and other parts of the country as they went over routine mobilization for the party.”
He added that “The FDC founding President and the People’s President Dr. Kizza Besigye was twice violently arrested as he went to attend FDC events in Jinja.
In fact, on the second day, Police raided the hotel where he had stayed overnight and towed him away.
This violence is happening one month to the first batch of the general election which is due in April.”
The Electoral Commission is set to conduct elections for women, youth, people with disabilities and elderly next month. Political parties are supposed to conduct primaries for these elections. In total there are 1.5 million elective positions to which parties are supposed to field candidates.
According to Ssemujju, the meeting with Rugunda might be the last one that the FDC is participating in.
“Rugunda, on behalf of the government, should tell us if his government has now outlawed political competition. He should tell us if multiparty system has now officially been overthrown. The FDC will, if the Wednesday meeting fails to find solution, be reluctant to attend any other meeting,” cautioned Ssemujju.
Remember Dr Rugunda, Attorney General Fred Ruhindie, Shadow Attorney General Abdu Katuntu, Police and Minister of Internal Affairs in 2015 agreed on the interpretation of POMA.
He also revealed that “Rugunda was supposed to come up with regulations which he and government have failed to produce. In violently dispersing our meetings, Police is hiding under POMA. This game has got to stop. If the Wednesday meeting fails, as FDC we shall engage another gear.”
Meanwhile, Ssemujju also noted that the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) is organizing two events to mark the International Women’s Day. One event will take place in Mubende and another at the headquarters in Najjanankumbi.
“This day is celebrated globally to mainly take stock of what we have achieved in the area of gender equality.
We will not as we have pledged abandon marking of these important international days to the dictator.
The UN theme is “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s rights.” We will domesticate this theme and accordingly inform you and the country,” he concluded.
