The leading Opposition political party in Uganda, the National Unity Platform (NUP), last month announced its decision to keep out of the contest for seats at the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA). Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga, announced the decision to shun the elections which commenced on 19 September 2022 with nominations, stating that the ruling NRM party had turned the election into a ritual. Mpugga accuses the NRM of meddling in the opposition process of picking representatives to the Assembly.
Representatives to EALA are voted by Members of Parliament every five years. The tenure of the current EALA members ends on 17 December 2022. Each of the 5 EALA member states elects 9 representatives to the Assembly. The NUP is the biggest Opposition party by representation in Parliament, with 59 MPs elected on the party ticket.
Mpuuga, during plenary sitting on Tuesday 30, August 2022, told Parliament that NUP will not be party to a process he alleged has been turned into a ritual by the ruling party, by fencing six out of nine positions allotted to Uganda. “For some reason without a formula, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) believes that it is entitled to six members at EALA, and that entitlement is eternal. As if the six are ordained and that others should look at them in admiration,” Mpuuga said.
He further stated that the NRM was meddling in the nomination of representatives of other political parties, and that it was partly the reason for NUP’s abstinence from the election.
“Across EAC, Uganda is the only country where the ruling party believes they can have their own members and also choose for other parties; NUP is not going to be part of this ritual, it is going to be part of an election where the rules of the games are respected, where multi-party dispensation is upheld,” said Mpuuga.
In a meeting of the NRM Parliamentary Caucus that sat in Kololo, Kampala, the MPs resolved to retain all six incumbent NRM representatives to EALA, leaving only three seats to the grab. The ruling party recently entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the oldest political party in Uganda, the Democratic Party and key among the issues agreed upon was for the NRM which has 336 MPs to support DP’s nominee for EALA. DP fielded its Secretary General Dr Gerald Siranda.
According to the NRM party director for Communication, Emmanuel Dombo, the party has also resolved to back Independent candidates aligned to the NRM for the remaining two slots. Dombo argues that the party is unapologetic on its decision. He states that representatives to EALA must exhibit an understanding of the country’s agenda on regional integration. He further states that the representatives must be ready to support the government’s agenda. He however explains that from inception, the NUP has only shown a desire to fight government policy regardless of the objectives of the policies. As such, Dombo argues the ruling party will only back candidates that will speak for the country and not for party or individual interests.
The opposition political parties in Uganda have so far failed to agree on joint candidates to compete in the EALA election. A caucus meeting held last week by six opposition political parties with representation in Parliament, sought to agree on joint candidates to contest against the NRM candidates.
Aspirants from opposition Forum for Democratic Change FDC, Democratic Party DP, Uganda Peoples’ Congress UPC, Justice Forum also known as JEEMA, and 18 other independents are seeking election. The Peoples’ Progressive Party did not field a candidate.
“We did not declare support for any candidate from the opposition because our position for participation is still equivocal -meaning that we have not yet agreed on a position of participation.” Leader of opposition in parliament Mathias Mpuuga said after the meeting.
Mpuuga said the meeting resolved that each of the parties convene its caucus to deliberate on some of the matters in the process they discussed today pending another opposition caucus meeting next week to come up with joint candidates. He however noted that today’s meeting also considered a possibility of the opposition parties entirely withdrawing from the race.
Despite his subscribing to the NUP, Mpugga is obligated by his position to superintend over selection of opposition candidates in Parliament.
Previous attempts by the opposition to stand up the NRM have fallen flat, allowing the ruling party to sail through 6 by-elections across the country since the 2021 general election. In December 2021, the NRM won a hotly contested Kayunga LC5 chairperson by-election and later the by-election to replace fallen Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah as MP for Omoro County. The ruling party later took the Soroti City East by-election, the Gogonyo, Bukimbiri and Busongora South constituencies in parliament. The by-elections saw NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi meet with former FDC stalwart and long term presidential candidate Kizza Besigye to try and come up with a strategy to win together as the Opposition. The meeting did not yield any success in any of the by-elections that followed.
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