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Will Akena-NRM deal make or break UPC?
UPC party president Jimmy Akena addresses a press conference at Uganda House, in Kampala yesterday. PHOTO BY DOMINIC BUKENYA
Kampala- For allying with President Museveni, Mr Jimmy Akena, the contested leader of one of the country’s oldest political parties, the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), is in the eye of the storm over what some analysts called, “a marriage of convenience”.
However, other analysts called the deal between the ruling NRM and Mr Akena’s UPC faction, “a bold, pragmatic and historic move” that reflects a resurgence of ambition and a new direction at Uganda House.
Mr Isaac Ssemakadde of Legal Brain Trust, a Kampala-based human rights watchdog, said: “This alliance completes the rehabilitation of Obote’s legacy as the founding father of independent Uganda and marks the end of a hurtful era of unwarranted abuse of the Uganda People’s Congress by NRM ideologues.”
At a press conference yesterday, Mr Akena appeared expressionless amid rising criticism from party members and historicals, explaining how he was convinced that President Museveni, if given a fifth-elective term, will improve key sectors of the economy like health, education and agriculture the ideologies the UPC stands for.
“As UPC, we firmly believe in the need for a peaceful transition and recognising that this could only be the last term for President Museveni, and therefore, any meaningful transition cannot exclude him and the NRM,” Mr Akena said.
He was, however, quick to say the ongoing discussions are not limited to only NRM but other presidential candidates such as Dr Kizza Besigye of FDC and former premier, Amama Mbabazi.
He said the talks should not worry party members since Mr Museveni will not be eligible to stand in 2021, an election he said the UPC will win.
On Sunday, Mr Joseph Bbosa, the UPC vice president under the Olara Otunnu faction, said Mr Akena had received Shs1 billion in the deal, a claim the latter denied. At a parallel press briefing in Ntinda a Kampala suburb, Mr Okello Lucima, the (UPC) spokesperson of the Otunnu faction, scoffed at Akena’s decision to ally with Mr Museveni as “narrow and simplistic”.
Defending Mr Museveni from the accusations that he could have bought off Mr Akena, minister for Presidency Frank Tumwebaze asked: “Did Mbabazi also pay Olara Otunnu and his group? Those claims are childish politicking. Why do they think it’s okay for them to collaborate and work with other political groups and when anybody else cooperates with NRM, it’s bribery?”
Unprincipled deal?
Mr Mwambutsya Ndebesa, a political analyst and history don at Makerere University, said alliances negotiated by individuals instead of collective bargain, are akin to divisions and are unprincipled deals.
He said forming alliances is good but there must be collective decision-making. He explained that the 1966 crisis was partly instigated by what he called “unprincipled alliance” between Mr Akena’s father, the late Milton Obote and Ssekabaka Edward Muteesa.
“Although President Museveni is trying to court Lango sub-region, this deal could boomerang by alienating the support base of NRM in Buganda where some people threatened to block Obote’s body from passing through Luweero,” Mr Mwambutsya said.
Background
Details of Akena’s deal with Mr Museveni first came to light at the weekend after the President told a press conference at Baralegi State Lodge in Otuke District that a UPC group led by Mr Akena, whom he described as the official president of the party, was working with his people.
At a news conference at UPC headquarters in Kampala, yesterday Mr Akena confirmed the deal with Mr Museveni but denied allegations that he received Shs1 billion from President Museveni to loan UPC members to the NRM. “Such allegations are baseless. We cannot speculate,” he said, declining to comment further on the matter.
