Opposition sets demands for talks with Govt

By RONALD SEBUTIKO Opposition political parties under the interparty organization for dialogue have set conditions for talks with government. The Political parties have raised seven demands that should be fulfilled by the government for a dialogue with the President. Government Chief Whip David Migereko has criticized the opposition for setting demands before the talks.

He said what the opposition demands could have been discussed in the talks. They demand that all opposition members arrested and detained during the recent city riots connected to walk-to- work protests should be released unconditionally, government releases a list of people arrested since the protest started and the opposition still claims that the February general elections were not free and fair.

The opposition also demands that a neutral mediator agreed upon by all stakeholders is appointed to preside over the dialogue, the heavy army deployment countrywide be withdrawn arguing that their presence portrays Uganda in a state of emergency. The demands were agreed upon by the parties in a meeting chaired by the retired Principal judge James Ogoola, in his capacity as the chairman council of elders. 

They asked Ogoola to forward the demands to the President. DP secretary general Matthias Nsubuga has told a news conference in Kampala that unless the demands are met, they will not be party to the talks which was slated for today. The opposition parties include Forum for Democratic Change(FDC), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) ,JEEMA, Democratic Party (DP) and Conservative Party (CP).