Opposition political parties, the National Unity Platform (NUP) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), have declined to sign the new 2022 Inter-party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) memorandum of understanding, officials at the Netherlands Institute for Multi-party democracy, have said. 

As a result, the funders, Netherlands Institute for Multi-Party Democracy (NIMD), have said they are considering pull out from the arrangement. 

“Now that the National Unity Platform, the leading opposition party in Uganda, has announced that they will not sign up to the new 2022 IPOD memorandum of understanding and the Forum for Democratic Change is hesitant to sign up, NIMD has to re-assess its involvement in IPOD,” NIMD officials said in a statement. 

“IPOD is the only national dialogue platform in the country and can play a pivotal role in strengthening democracy. But IPOD can only do so if it is fully inclusive and all parliamentary parties are at the dialogue table. NIMD calls upon all parties to ensure that the conditions are met to make this possible, including respecting the safety and political rights of all citizens,” officials added in their statement, noting that NIMD “will only consider continuing to host the secretariat if IPOD is fully inclusive.” 

The development comes against the backdrop of a recent meeting between some party leaders that have signed the IPOD deal such as the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), the Democratic Party (DP), JEEMA, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) and the People’s Progressive Party, and the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Norbert Mao. 

IPOD was set up in 2010 by parties represented in Parliament to enhance cooperation and collaboration.  

NIMD hosts the IPOD secretariat and facilitates the collaboration between the coalitions of political parties.