FDC: Rescinding Age Limit Amendment Only Condition to Museveni Dialogue

The FDC President, Patrick Oboi Amuriat has said that unless the NRM rescinds the recently passed constitutional amendments that repealed the Presidential age limits, the efforts to dialogue with President Yoweri Museveni are useless.

He said that the removal of the Presidential age limits was the last blow to the long pursuit of a political dialogue between the Opposition and President Museveni on peaceful power transition.

The FDC President was Monday speaking to journalists at the party headquarters in Najjanankumbi to take stock of his first hundred days as President.

He explained that while the FDC has been committed to reclaim its ‘victory’ in the 2016 general elections, there has been no will on the part of the NRM. And part of this, he said was manifested in the extension of President Museveni’s tenure through the contentious Age Limit Bill in December last year.

“There were lots of efforts through IPOD, Inter Religious Council of Uganda, the Women’s Situation Room and the Elders’ Forum to have a political dialogue,” he said, adding that; “but you can’t dialogue with someone whose acts demonstrate that he [Museveni] isn’t interested.

“Ours was that nothing was to happen that would jeopardize the process, and signatures were put on paper. But these are now meaningless because of the age limit amendments,” Amuriat told the press.

He however noted that the only way to get back to the table is if the amendments are reversed, short of which the FDC will stick to intensifying its defiance campaigns.

“The amendments can be reversed. We shall push for that, and then we can push for dialogue”.

The FDC leader mentioned that he has held discussions with leaders of other political parties including Erias Lukwago (Truth and Justice), Nobert Mao (Democratic Party) and Ken Lukyamuzi (Conservative Party). Amuriat said that the move to sideline engagements with NRM was deliberate, particularly due to the removal of the Presidential age limits.

Last year, reports emerged, claiming there were underground efforts to have long time political rival of President Museveni and four time Presidential candidate, Dr Kizza Besigye to have talks on power transition. The reports stated that the dialogue would be facilitated by the government of Sweden.

However, Besigye and government have since refuted the claims about such a dialogue although the FDC have at several occasions contradicted itself admitting that there are ongoing engagements.

Several foreign diplomats have previously advocated for the dialogue which they said would prevent the country from political instability.