{"id":104124,"date":"2025-07-10T16:00:59","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance"},"modified":"2025-07-10T16:49:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T16:49:54","slug":"govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance","title":{"rendered":"Govt Suspends Political Party Funding over IPOD Law Compliance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. <\/strong><\/span><b>The government has suspended public funding to political parties represented in Parliament, following the enactment of the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2025, which restricts such funding to parties that are members of and actively participate in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD).<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a letter dated July 2, Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Norbert Mao informed Electoral Commission (EC) Chairperson Justice Simon Byabakama that the new law eliminates the legal basis for disbursing funds to political parties that are not part of IPOD.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGovernment shall only provide funds or other public resources to a political party or organisation&#8230; if the political party or organisation is a member of the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue and participates in activities of the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue,\u201d Mao wrote.<\/p>\n<p>He further instructed the EC not to release any political party funds until further notice, pending the completion of legal and procedural consultations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe purpose of this letter is to emphasize the fact that with the coming into force of the new law, the EC has no legal basis for disbursing funds to political parties. In the circumstances, I request you not to disburse any funds to political parties until you hear from me,\u201d Mao stated.<\/p>\n<p>The minister said President Museveni, who chairs the IPOD Summit, is expected to convene a meeting of stakeholders to chart a way forward.<\/p>\n<p>Mao also pledged to issue statutory instruments required by the amended law within three weeks.<\/p>\n<p>The development has triggered fresh debate over the relevance and integrity of IPOD in Uganda\u2019s multiparty political system.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing on NBS Television\u2019s Morning Breeze on Wednesday, political analyst Imam Idi Kasozi dismissed IPOD as a money-driven platform.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIPOD is largely about money. That\u2019s where the debate is,\u201d he said. \u201cThose who don\u2019t attend IPOD meetings are pretenders. All they do is pretense, but when it comes to resources, they rush for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kasozi argued that Uganda\u2019s political players have failed to grasp the platform\u2019s intended purpose. \u201cWe have never taken critical time to understand what exactly IPOD is supposed to do in this country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>In response, IPOD Executive Director Lawrence Sserwambala defended the organisation\u2019s legitimacy, stressing that it is governed by its summit of member parties\u2014not by President Museveni.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe President doesn\u2019t call the shots of IPOD, the summit does,\u201d Sserwambala said. He explained that while the leadership is currently held by the ruling NRM, the position rotates among member parties.<\/p>\n<p>Sserwambala also confirmed that the National Unity Platform (NUP) is not yet part of IPOD because it has not signed the required Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNUP, as we speak, is not a member of IPOD. After the Minister issues a statutory instrument, then NUP will have to come into the IPOD fold as per the law,\u201d he noted.<\/p>\n<p>Responding to criticism over opposition absences at IPOD meetings, Sserwambala pointed out that even long-standing parties like the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) have at times failed to attend.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNUP wasn\u2019t the only party that wasn\u2019t represented at the meeting with the NRM Chairman. FDC also didn\u2019t show up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t a big deal given that NUP hasn\u2019t signed the MoU.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He clarified that until recently, party funding had not been tied to IPOD participation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe money NUP has been receiving from the government until the 5th of June has not been pegged to membership of IPOD,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the disputes, Sserwambala maintained that IPOD remains a voluntary institution. \u201cI am not going to coerce a party to join,\u201d he said. \u201cParties aren\u2019t equivalent to NRM or NUP. There are many political parties in Uganda. The institution of IPOD will remain, with or without members.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Uganda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Uganda. The government has suspended public funding to political parties represented in Parliament, following the enactment of the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Act, 2025, which restricts such funding to parties that are members of and actively participate in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD). In a letter dated July 2, Justice and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":104123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[234],"class_list":["post-104124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Govt Suspends Political Party Funding over IPOD Law Compliance - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The government has suspended public funding to political parties represented in Parliament, following the enactment o ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Govt Suspends Political Party Funding over IPOD Law Compliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government has suspended public funding to political parties represented in Parliament, following the enactment o ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T16:00:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-10T16:49:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2025\/07\/sm_1752153433.217382.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1073\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"552\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Govt Suspends Political Party Funding over IPOD Law Compliance\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-10T16:00:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-10T16:49:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\"},\"wordCount\":645,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2025\/07\/sm_1752153433.217382.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/govt-suspends-political-party-funding-over-ipod-law-compliance\",\"name\":\"Govt Suspends Political Party Funding over IPOD Law Compliance - 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