KAMPALA – The Presidents of six major political parties, including the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), converged at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds today for the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) summit. The meeting was convened by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in his capacity as the Chairman of the NRM, which currently holds the rotational chairpersonship of the IPOD forum.
The summit saw the attendance of leaders from the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Democratic Party (DP), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), JEEMA, and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). Notably absent was Mr. Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine, and his National Unity Platform (NUP) party.
According to sources familiar with the planning of the event, President Museveni personally guided the IPOD Secretariat on the list of invitees. He explicitly indicated that the NUP President was not welcome at the venue. The official reason given is NUP’s continued refusal to enroll as a member of the IPOD organization, a requirement under the amended laws governing political party cooperation.
The NRM Chairman’s view, as relayed by sources, is that this failure to enroll makes NUP ineligible to participate in the dialogue platform, which is designed to foster peace and discussion among legally recognized parties.
However, insiders suggest that the exclusion is also driven by deeper political grievances. It is alleged that President Museveni is “very annoyed” with Bobi Wine for what he perceives as an attempt to use force to dislodge him from power, rather than engaging in the peaceful political processes employed by other opposition parties.
This ongoing power struggle has, according to sources, led to the imprisonment and deaths of many NUP supporters, creating a significant rift that now appears to be formalized through their exclusion from national dialogue platforms like IPOD.
The exclusion of the country’s largest opposition party from a summit aimed at fostering inter-party dialogue raises serious questions about the inclusivity and future of political discourse in Uganda. The NUP has consistently criticized IPOD, labeling it a puppet organization for the NRM government.
As the summit proceeds in Kololo, the notable empty chair serves as a stark symbol of the profound divisions within Uganda’s political landscape.
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