By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
The forum for democratic Change has reaffirmed its commitment to engage with like-minded political actors to foster collaboration and consensus in Uganda.
Eng. Patric Oboi Amuriat, the FDC President says the party is open to dialogue with individuals and groups committed to addressing Uganda’s political and governance issues.
“We do not have any problem at all meeting anybody, we maintain the open door policy as the FDC, and we are open to dialoguing with like-minded people involved in politics of this country,” he said.
Amuriat wa speaking to journalists shortly after a consultation meeting with the leadership of the Democratic Alliance political movement led by their chief coordinator, Rt. Hon. Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba, also a member of parliament for Nyendo-Mukungwe, at FDC headquarters Najjanankumbi on Tuesday.
The two-hour long meeting was held behind closed doors and no journalist was allowed access inside the boardroom.
However, Amuriat said that the meeting focused on critical issues of national governance, particularly electoral reforms and political transition.
“We have engaged each other, talked about the politics of this country with the focus on the future of this country that we all believe should be a better place for the citizens and the visitors to live in,” Amuriat explained. “The DA has presented reforms from which are in this document. This is an abridged version of the reforms and transitional arrangements that they have put across and brought to our attention.”
While the FDC welcomed the reforms, Amuriat criticized the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) for its failure to advocate for electoral reforms.
“This is something that we had expected our friends from the National Unity Platform to take a lead in but as nature holds, caused a vacuum, I think the DA has picked up the pieces and said we have to advance these to come along with us,” Amuriat said.
He called the government to listen to opposition voices to actualize electoral reforms for free and fair elections and a peaceful transition of power which remains unattainable in Uganda since independence.
On his part, the leader of DA Mathias Mpuuga said the proposed reforms go beyond the 2026 general elections. He said the DA will consult all opposition political parties including NUP regarding their obligations on the proposed reforms.
“We have this one country called home we all must save, and that is the reason why we are here. We will meet everybody like I said, and we will meet everyone willing to make a contribution ensuring that the nature of elections he represents, the wishes including frustrations of our common people for the sake of change in Uganda,” said Mpuuga.
Mpuuga stated that the ongoing discussions about a peaceful transition of power in Uganda are being handled poorly and urged all stakeholders to unite in advocating for these reforms.
“The conversation about the transition is ongoing but ongoing shabbily in a manner that is probably fraudulent and it’s our job as political actors in this space to stop the fraudulent transition of power from one group or an individual to another.”
Parrots Media has learned that FDC structural organs will convene to deliberate on these reforms, which will later be forwarded to the National Executive Committee (NEC) for further discussion on the input. The public has also been urged to popularize these reforms and pressurize the government to act.
