Opposition party, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has rejected the proposed opposition coalition ahead of the 2016 general elections, saying it will be useless if electoral reforms are not in place.
The Party vice president, Mr. Joseph Bbosa, on Wednesday told a news conference in Kampala that the opposition will never get into power if the current Electoral Commission is not reconstituted.
“We cannot be part of any coalition with the current EC leadership in place. That is why we pulled out from the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC) in 2011, after failing to agree with other parties on the matter and we also saw the results,” he said.
Bbosa’s remarks follow a call by the Democratic Party president, Norbert Mao to other opposition parties to form a coalition ahead of the 2016 general elections. Mao also called for a national dialogue involving all political players to discuss the problems facing the country and way forward.
The party president, Norbert Mao said if the opposition wants to change government and deal with the problems of this country, they must adopt a cooperative approach.
“The opposition can never achieve anything when it is still divided and disorganized like today. As DP we believe in a meaningful and serious coalition if we are to achieve our goals,” he noted.
Giving his New Year message at the party’s weekly press briefing at the party headquarters in Kampala yesterday, Mao stressed that there is need for opposition to come up with an agenda and a roadmap ahead of the next elections.
He said there is need to give people hope that change is possible without use of any force but by the vote.
Mao said in the past opposition coalitions have failed because they have always done it hurriedly without a clear agenda thus failing to agree on terms.
Mr. Bbosa says UPC is ready to work with all democracy seeking organizations irrespective of their political ideologies to push for a transparent democratic system of governance before 2016 general elections.
He also noted that differences among the opposition political parties have also failed their efforts to get into power. He added that many parties have internal conflicts which they need to solve before going into a coalition.
“Selfishness is still a big problem that we need to handle at various levels. We need to develop a culture of fighting for a common good not selfish interest. We all have the same goal of pushing for a better democratic system,” he said.
He said UPC will not just cooperate for the sake but for a purpose and principle.
