Opposition political parties have been educated on the advantages of unity as opposed to their complaints and Hullabaloos that they are mistreated by the ruling party, NRM.
The comment was made by president Yoweri Museveni during the Inter party organization for dialogue, IPOD Summit at Speke Resort Munyonyo this afternoon. While addressing delegates from the NRM, UPC, DP and JEEMA parties, the President said Uganda's opposition is only existing due to the mistakes made by some NRM leaders.
He was commenting on complaints made by some opposition leaders that he promised to wipe opposition out of Uganda by 2021 general elections. He made these comments after the 2016 elections. However, the president says his words cannot wipe the opposition, but rather their mistakes especially disunity.
The president further said that opposition left NRM to work alone especially on positive issues, losing credibility. He gave an example of the Kony war in Northern Uganda which the opposition left NRM to fight alone. He says that instead of supporting the cause, the opposition instead attacked the ruling party as if it was the enemy.
"When Kong was terrorizing people in Northern Uganda, we said let's fight him, I don't rember any opposition members supporting us. They instead criticized us as if we were the enemy. Nobert Mao tried to be part of the cause but once in a while" the president said.
Mr. Museveni said disunity and weak security are the reasons Africa was colonized in the past. He added that for Germany to move from kingdoms to a country it is today, they had to unite and be one. Adding that if opposition can work with NRM on positive things, they all will benefit.
On the issue of tortur, the president said it is wrong and he has already cautioned members of the military who were brutalizing people on the streets. "We do not support torture and I have told the army it is wrong. I watched the video and called the people who beat up youths in the streets, of course they had excuses but I told them it is wrong" he said.
Commenting on freedom of assembly, the president said everyone is free to hold a rally as long as it is not in markets where Ugandans could lose their merchandise. "Why hold a rally in the market? The market is for tomatoes abs onions, we shall not allow that. If you say you want to hold a rally in a stadium, its is okay" he added as people looked on in disbelief. The president prayed that FDC which missed today's summit does not miss next year too, since they missed a lot from their closed door sessions.
The IPOD Summit also elected DP as the next chairs and they will hold another one on May 15th 2019 to see if whatever was discussed today has been put innto consideration.
