NRM, FDC shun national consultative meeting of political parties
The two biggest political parties in Uganda, the NRM and Forum for Democratic Change last week shunned a consultative meeting of political parties organised under the platform of the National Consultative Forum (NCF).
The National Consultative Forum (NCF) is an inter party platform created under article 71(2) of the Constitution and section 20 of the Political Parties and Organisations Act.
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The Democratic Party Secretary General Gerald Siranda, said it was unfortunate for FDC and NRM to shun the meeting where they were going to discuss challenges faced by political organisations.
"Under the law, the chairman of the national consultative forum is supposed to come from the party in power and the vice comes from the second biggest party hence NRM and FDC nominated Rt Hon Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda
and Amanya Mushega respectively as their representatives but they have continued to be absent consecutively which makes the National Consultative," Siranda said
Leaders of other political parties like People's Development Party, Farmers Party, and Forum for Integrity in Leadership
wondered why Rugunda cannot delegate the attorney general to represent the NRM since the matters discussed in NCF meetings are of great significance in shaping the political arena of the country.
On his part, Moses Kakama the president of National Youth Revolutionary Organisation said NCF should be detached from the Electoral Commission.
He said: "We are under the armpits of the Electoral Commission yet we are supposed to be independent when you ask for our offices at the Electoral Commission headquarters you find only a table and chair."