Church, elders and civil society push for dialogue in Uganda
Kampala, Uganda (PANA) – Promoters of national dialogue in Uganda are locked up in a two-day conference to deliberate on how to realise their dream, which they say is aimed at bringing healing in Uganda.
The effort is spearheaded by religious leaders under the Inter-religious Council of Uganda; the Elders Forum; and civil society organisations. The other key player in the process is the National Consultative Forum, an umbrella organisation of all registered political parties.
The dialogue process has, however, for the past two years been coordinated by the office of the prime minister, which has raised trust issues especially on the part of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), the biggest opposition party in the country.
FDC has in the past accused the organisers of the dialogue of being under the influence of the government, an allegation which the conveners have denied.
The conveners spent Monday and Tuesday locked in a workshop in Entebbe, 40kms from the capital Kampala, discussing how the dialogue will be conducted.
The retreat was also attended by representatives of the government and the opposition, and on the first day a query was raised that the youth, who constitute over half of the country’s 40 million people, have not been represented. A decision was made to explore ways of involving the youth and June was earmarked as the month the national dialogue process will commence.
Speaking at the retreat earlier on Tuesday, the Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana, who represented the prime minister, said: “The government is fully committed to the dialogue process and will respect the outcomes.”
The conveners of the dialogue hope to get as many Ugandans as possible to dialogue on politics, economy and social developments in the country.
Uganda, according to sources, is highly polarized, with research by academics funded by donors in 2011 concluding that three in ever four Ugandans believe that President Yoweri Museveni cannot be removed through the ballot.
The claim that Museveni is too entrenched and has too much wherewithal to influence the electoral process to the extent that he cannot be removed by ballot has also been repeatedly voiced by Kizza Besigye, the main opposition leader in the country for the past two decades.
Besigye keeps saying that he only participates in elections as a way of mobilising Ugandans to rise up and throw Museveni out of power other than to win the ballot itself.
The last election in 2016 was dotted with controversy and Besigye was held under house arrest at his home until the 10 days within which a presidential candidate may challenge the results of an election elapsed.
He had claimed that he won the election with 52% and eventually a video was released showing him being “sworn-in” as the president of Uganda, something which got him charged with treason.
The trail, however, has not taken off three years later and he has since embarked on a nationwide campaign calling on Ugandans to rise up and overthrow Museveni this year, something that has brought him in collision with the police. His rallies have been broken up and his radio announcement disrupted.
-0- PANA EM/VAO 16April2019
