Parliament has begun scrutinizing a private member’s bill that seeks to define IPOD’s functions and streamline the criteria for public funding of political parties and organizations.
The bill is the handiwork of Faith Nakut, the Napak Woman MP.
The proposed legislation aims to formalize two organs within the National Consultative Forum: the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) and a Forum for Non-Represented Political Parties and Organizations.
Currently, the Act provides government funding to political parties represented in Parliament under Section 14.
However, Nakut argued that the law does not require these parties to uphold democratic values such as tolerance, dialogue, and peaceful co-existence as conditions for accessing public resources.
“To strengthen the National Consultative Forum, we must establish organs that reflect the interests of both represented and non-represented political parties,” she stated.
According to the bill’s objective, the amendment would restrict government funding and access to other public resources to only those political parties and organizations that are members of the National Consultative Forum.
The bill prescribes functions of IPOD as:
• Promoting inter-party dialogue to strengthen democratic governance,
• Facilitating communication among political parties represented in Parliament,
• Advising government on policy matters and fostering a democratic environment, and;
• Providing a neutral platform for engagement among parties of differing ideologies.
The bill proposes that only political parties and organizations that choose to join IPOD be eligible for government funding and public resources.
Speaker Anita Among referred the Bill to the committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for further scrutiny.
