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The Government reached a ceasefire with civil society organizations on the how the two parties engage in public discourse, the justice and constitutional affairs minister Norbert Mao has revealed. 

“There has been turbulence in the relationship between the government and civil society, but what I want to assure you is that that relationship is going to improve. We are having constant dialogue with civil society. We now have a ceasefire and there is only one condition to that ceasefire – that we stop jumping into each other’s orbits,” he said. 

Mao made the revelation on November 3, 2023, at the ministry headquarters while receiving the position paper of leaders of the Multi-party Youth Forum (MYF), an umbrella organisation of youth leaders of political parties that have representation in Parliament. 

The youth led by Ismael Kirya, the leader of MYF and Uganda Young Democrats, tabled a list of demands that included lowering MP nomination fees from sh3m to sh500,000 and control of election financing if the country is to improve governance. 

The group last month asked the Electoral Commission (EC) to double their slots in Parliament. 

Mao cautioned civil society organisations against behaving like opposition political parties and using corrosive language against the government, saying the President has also agreed to tone down. 

“You no longer hear the President calling you enemies of late. It is critical that we maintain that ceasefire. On our part, we also accept that you have a legitimate role to play and demand accountability. We have urged the President to stop calling civil society an enemy of the country because the moment he does that, then he delegitimises you. Those are the conditions for the ceasefire,” Mao said. 

Citing an example, Mao further said it was unacceptable for a non-government organisations to call the government a junta. 

“If an NGO starts calling the Government of Uganda junta, then it has crossed the line. We expect the political parties to call the government a junta, but we cannot accept an NGO to call the government a junta,” he said. 

Dialogue 

While meeting civil society organisations at Mestil Hotel in Kampala on Friday, internal affairs minister Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire, asked civil society organisations to engage the government on where it goes wrong. 

"While I am still steward in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, I will do my level best in supporting Civil Societies," Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire on supporting the sector, its activities and its partners in Uganda's development. 

For a long time, the Government had a rocky history with the civil society. The rocky history climaxed in the government’s decision to close the Democratic Governance Facility, a multi-million-dollar programme funded by eight development partners to promote good governance in Uganda. 

It was funded by Austria, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the European Union. Many NGOs and government departments that used to depend on DGF for funding are currently struggling. 

Before the closure of DGF, security agencies had raided offices of NGOs like ActionAid.