In the meeting, DP President, Norbert Mao asked Electoral Commission to de-register political parties which are not active, saying that their owners form them not to participate in elections, but rather “mess the politics of Uganda.”
The opposition Democratic Party (DP) has asked the Electoral Commission to de-register political parties which are not active.Under the law, all political parties must be registered with the Electoral Commission, and currently, the Commission has about 26 political parties registered, but only a few participate in elections.
On Wednesday, the DP held a meeting with the National Consultative Forum (NCF), a Forum that brings together all registered political parties in Uganda, to share experiences, and discuss challenges after the 2021 general elections.
Giving an example of National Unity Reconciliation and Development Party (NURDP) founded by Nkonge Kibalama in 2004, Mao said the party was in slumber until it was turned into National Unity Platform (NUP) in 2020, and sold to opposition presidential candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu aka Bobi Wine.
“As DP, we have made some specific appeals to the National Consultative Forum. We have asked that they should evaluate these political parties. Uganda has so many political parties, not just the seven that are in Parliament. We would like the National Consultative Forum, and Electoral Commission to differentiate between political parties, projects, and protest movements and pressure groups that may be masquerading as political parties. We have not been afraid to even deal with very thorny issues of parties that are registered by the regime, and are in hibernation, and they are woken up when they are needed. I personally think Kibalama’s party was one such party which was woken up in 2020, and weaponized to mess up the politics of Uganda,” he said.
“We have got a number of political parties that are in slumber and the owners can wake them up and deploy them anytime. And some of us think that National Unity Reconciliation and Development Party (NURDP) founded by Kibalama was one such party because it was founded in 2004, and only woke up in 2020 as a biological weapon. So, we have challenged Electoral Commission to really do quality assurance because they are like National Bureau of Standards for political parties. How many parties would deserve a bureau of Standards stamp? Do they hold meetings, do they have stamp, do they have committees, do they have branches, do they even have offices or they are just biological weapons?” Mao wondered.
Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed the obstacles that opposition parties face, which according to Mao include; the oppression of their members, unlawful arrests, unlawful imprisonment, torture and killing by the government.
The meeting further held discussion on what Mao described as reduced confidence in political parties by the citizens.
“We discussed the reduced confidence many people have in Political Parties. Many citizens feel that political parties actually don’t represent them so they are looking for alternative movements. And this is becoming increasingly difficult in a country where the civil society has been suppressed. Many citizens even refuse to vote because they feel as if the political processes don’t work for them. So, political parties have got to respond to the extremely low of confidence citizens have,” said Mao in a joint press briefing after the meeting.
Further, the meeting discussed what DP President described as ‘politics of extremism and radicalism and weaponized lies.”
“We are living in what we call the post truth era. The truth is now behind us, because it looks like everybody does not just have alternative opinions, but everybody seems to have alternative facts. In the world where we live today, facts are no longer agreed upon. People can insist on lies, and they weaponized them,” he said.
Meanwhile, DP called on NCF to hold dialogue between political parties to end the conflicts within parties.
“We asked that there should be a mediation service. All political parties are quarrelling. There are internal quarrels and then there are quarrels within political parties. We have our quarrels with our parties. So, we have called on the National Consultative Forum to establish an elders platform that can help mediate conflicts. That will avoid some of the wars that we see on social media. The wars on social media are largely a result of indiscipline, opportunism and lack of serious leadership and political parties which have no values,” Mao said.
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The opposition Democratic Party (DP) has asked the Electoral Commission to de-register political parties which are not active.You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
