Election violence top of the agenda as Museveni hosts IPOD

President Museveni will this Friday chair the Inter party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) summit in his capacity as chairperson.

According to the IPOD memorandum of understand that was signed by political parties that have representation in Parliament including DP, FDC, JEEMA, NRM and UPC, the organisation must organise a summit meeting after every six months.

The summit shall be held at Kololo Independence Grounds under the theme: Dialogue for National Cohesion.

Justine Kasule Lumumba, the NRM secretary general, said that the summit will aim at handling the current political challenges that prevail in the aftermath of the 2021 general elections

“As you may know, the just concluded general elections witnessed high levels of unprecedented violence, lawlessness, riots, protests, hate speech along tribal and sectarian lines, misinformation and disinformation among many other electoral vices that continue to undermine our electoral democracy and threaten national security and social cohesion,” Lumumba stated.

With a handful of people expected due to Covid-19 pandemic standard operating procedures, the attendance will entail presidents and secretaries general of the political parties under IPOD and the political parties with representation in Parliament.

“Due to the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic and the preventive guidelines in place, the summit shall take place at Kololo Independence grounds, Kampala starting at 11:00am,” said Lumumba.

She noted that it is the duty and responsibility of political leaders to contribute meaningfully to a process that can generate solutions to the existing political challenges of the time.

Other issues related to expanding the democratic space, upholding the rule of law, protection of the human rights of Ugandan citizens, enhancing electoral integrity and reviewing the role of security agencies in electoral processes will be discussed.

IPOD was formed in 2010 by the political parties represented in parliament. Its mandated to consolidate multi-party democracy through dialogue.