UPC moves to build party structures

POLITICS

Opposition party, Uganda People's Congress (UPC) has embarked on countrywide consultative meetings and tour build party structures at the grassroots.

Party chief of staff Frances Murungi disclosed that the UPC top leadership led by party president Jimmy Akena is on regional tours focused on building, strengthening and renewing of party structures.

"This involves training of members on values, aims and objectives of the party and the entire UPC constitution, registering and recruiting new members among others," Murungi explained.

Murungi who was addressing the press at the party's weekly briefing on Wednesday in Kampala noted the regional tours have so far covered areas of greater Teso, West Nile, Bukedi, Lingo, Tororo, and Acholi regions.

"The top leadership is engaging party members especially the youth on how to improve in their participation in politics and also prepare them for the fourth coming 2021 general elections," she stressed.

She, however, noted that the party was yet to roll out the roadmap for the same activities in the other parts of the country as per Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) and Inter-Party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) program.

"We call upon party members and leaders in other regions where these activities are yet to go, to get ready for them," she said.

The party head of media and communications Faizo Muzeyi argued that without structures, the party cannot mobilize influence or make headway.

"Organizing and mobilizing activists within and outside the party is important, as leaders with a strong and large activist base are better able to endure state repression, which makes parties more capable of forcing regime openness and achieving electoral gains," Muzeyi explained.

Muzeyi also called for a united opposition saying strong coalitions are able to reduce the efficacy of the incumbent's divide-and-rule strategies, increasing the costs and risks associated with repression and manipulation.

"A fragmented opposition landscape is often held-up as one of the most significant determinants of regime durability and democratic stagnation," he said.