Uganda DP faction calls for referendum on power-sharing deal
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Nile Post
A faction of Uganda’s Democratic Party is calling for a national referendum before any power-sharing agreement between the ruling National Resistance Movement and opposition parties. Its leader, Ismail Kiirya, says opposition leaders have not sufficiently consulted their members about the proposal, according to Nile Post.
A faction of Uganda’s Democratic Party (DP), called DP at Heart, is calling for a national referendum on the proposed power-sharing agreement between the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and opposition parties. It accused opposition leaders of negotiating without consulting their members or local structures, according to Nile Post.
Ismail Kiirya, a former president of the Uganda Young Democrats and leader of DP at Heart, said in Kampala on Saturday that the parties should first consult their members before any national vote. He also called for the proposal to be put to a referendum, arguing that an agreement negotiated by a few leaders could weaken multiparty democracy and concentrate power in the hands of a minority.
The proposal was presented at a political retreat held on 15 and 16 October in Jinja. Participants studied a 137-page document drafted by General Salim Saleh Akandwanaho and Professor Ogenga Otunnu, which proposes power-sharing based on consociational democracy. The leaders present had two weeks to consult their parties, according to Nile Post. The call extends the debate over the review of the agreement between the Democratic Party and the NRM, announced on 14 October.
