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zanu-pf secretary for Administration Dr Ignatius Chombo (left) and Minister of Defence Dr Sydney Sekeramayi (right), discuss with the Head of Ugandan Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue and National Resistance Movement deputy secretary-general Mr Richard Todwong during a meeting in Harare yesterday. — (Picture by Innocent Makawa)

Innocent Ruwende Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF secretary for Administration Dr Ignatius Chombo and other senior party officials yesterday met a visiting delegation of Ugandan political parties, which is in Zimbabwe for inter-party exchanges. The delegation, which comprises Ugandan political parties represented in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue led by the chairperson and National Resistance Movement deputy secretary-general Richard Todwong, will meet all the country’s major political parties.

Dr Chombo briefed the delegation on Zimbabwe’s journey since Independence. He underscored the need for political parties to dialogue in order to prevent tension. “Regarding engagements as political parties, we work well on national issues in Parliament and we are acceptable to dialogue with opposition political parties in forums such as this programme initiated by the Zimbabwe Institute,” he said.

“ZANU- PF interacts with the parties in both our Lower and Upper Houses in Parliament. The three parties collaborated closely in crafting the current national Constitution and continue to do so currently with programmes initiated by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as the country goes towards national elections in 2018.” Dr Chombo said local inter-party interactions were informal and operate on the basis of consensus among the three parties. This, he said, was different from the Ugandan Inter Party Organisation, which is a formal and well-established forum for continuous inter-party dialogue.

“We therefore hope to learn from your delegation on how your political parties have managed to establish IPOD and how the forum is funded. For us, the high-level delegation meeting you today is testament to the priority we give to such inter-party exchanges,” he said. Among the high ranking officials who attended the meeting were Minister of State for Harare Provincial Affairs Miriam Chikukwa; Defence Minister Dr Sydney Sekeramayi; Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, and central committee member and former Cabinet minister Mr Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana.

Mr Todwong said his delegation, which comprised of the major political parties in Uganda, was in Zimbabwe learn and compare notes with the country’s political parties. We have learned a lot. We have shared a lot and we visited many party offices. We are grateful for the hosts for the frank and open discussions we have had with the leadership of Zimbabwe and more so the leadership of ZANU-PF and all other political parties that hosted us,” he said.

“We were talking about encouraging party’s to dialogue with one another because we all aspire to lead the people. We all aspire to sell our programmes and our manifesto’s to the people during campaigns.”