By The Eye Media
Kampala, Uganda – October 13, 2025:
The National Unity Platform (NUP) has been dealt an embarrassing procedural blow after the Inter-Party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) reminded the party that it cannot simply walk in to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) without first following due process — a process NUP itself had previously dismissed as irrelevant.
In a letter dated October 10, 2025, addressed to NUP’s Secretary General and copied to IPOD’s leadership, the organization acknowledged NUP’s desire to join the platform but firmly pointed out that the party must first submit a formal written Expression of Interest before any signing can take place.
Quoting Article 5.2.7 of the IPOD Memorandum of Understanding, IPOD clarified that “a political party eligible to join IPOD shall express its interest in writing to the Secretary to Council.” The letter emphasizes that this step constitutes the first legal and procedural requirement — not the signing of the MoU as NUP had publicly portrayed.
The communication, which bears NUP’s receipt stamp dated October 10, 2025, undercuts the party’s earlier rhetoric that it was ready to “sign and join IPOD immediately.” For months, NUP leaders have accused IPOD of being a government-controlled outfit and vowed never to join it — a stance they have now quietly reversed, albeit without observing the laid-down process.
IPOD’s response appears to expose what critics are already calling NUP’s “double-speak” — publicly denouncing dialogue frameworks while privately seeking entry into them.
“Accordingly, NUP should submit a formal written Expression of Interest, affirming the party’s commitment to the objectives, principles, and values of IPOD,” the letter reads in part, reminding NUP that membership involves more than photo opportunities and political statements.
The development now forces NUP to either officially put its commitment in writing — something that would mark a complete U-turn from its previous anti-IPOD stance — or retreat once again into opposition isolation.
Observers say IPOD’s tactful but firm reminder has left the Kamwokya-based party red-faced, with the ball squarely in their court as to whether they will finally formalize what many see as a reluctant admission that dialogue, after all, is not betrayal.
