NUP party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine (right), exchanging documents with the FDC founding President, Dr Kizza Besigye, during a joint Opposition press conference in Kampala on August 1, 2022. PHOTO | MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
The new People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party is in advanced stages of talks with its opposition counterpart, the National Unity Platform (NUP), to forge a political coalition.
The overtures for an alliance come just months away from the parties choosing their flag bearers in readiness for the forthcoming General Election set for between January and February 2026. Multiple sources that preferred anonymity to speak freely for this story said the talks about the cooperation have been on and off, but have since gained momentum.
The sources cited two separate meetings that took place at the NUP offices in Kampala earlier this month with either side being represented by their top guns. “These meetings are crucial because the two blocs want to emerge stronger and make sure that they have better candidates in 2026,” the source said. The EC, after several months of back and forth with PFF, approved and published the new outfit in the gazette a week ago.
The PFF camp was led by Kampala Lord Mayor Mr Erias Lukwago, who is the interim president of the party, and promoters Wycliffe Bakandonda and Wafula Oguttu. The NUP wing was headed by party President Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, party secretary general David Lewis Rubongoya, and Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
The talks, our sources said, hinged on fronting joint candidates for positions in the forthcoming elections. They also reportedly agreed on a single presidential candidate being campaigned for and supported by the principals of the two sides. But the sources also cited slow and guarded approaches to the talks by NUP. Sources close to the goings-on between PFF and their NUP counterparts, say the sticking points have been how to balance the competing interests, especially in hotly contested positions and areas. “The biggest headaches to be dealt with are the ones like that of Kira Municipality. NUP has a strong candidate who has expressed interest and PFF has an incumbent who is arguably their most effective MP so far. How do you deal with that?” the source said.
Broader talks
Mr Wafula Oguttu, who has been cited as a big wigs in the talks, said their dialogue was broader than what we had been told. “Who told you about this? We have been holding meetings since 2020, so there is nothing special about what is happening now. We are largely talking about the political prisoners and that is why we have been meeting,” Mr Oguttu said. But when pressed on two particular meetings earlier this month, Mr Oguttu conceded. “I won’t deny that because we went there during the day and so many eyes were seeing us,” he said.
“As much as I said we talk about political prisoners, the aspects that you have put to me have also come up. We would like to go into the coming elections stronger together, not what the regime wants us to go through,” Mr Oguttu added. But Mr Rubongoya told this publication that they have not held any special talks with PFF about a coalition.
“We are not only talking to PFF, we have invited ANT (Alliance for National Transformation) among other change-seeking forces to make sure we work together in the coming elections,” he said in a telephone interview yesterday. “These talks have been public and we have given the outcomes of the talks to the public, so there is nothing like special talks for a coalition happening at the moment,” Mr Rubongoya added.
Failed attempts
In the run up to the 2021 General Election, several attempts were made to come up with joint candidates for the political positions running down from president to the lowest at the village level. Under the tagline, ‘United Forces of Change,” the two principals, Mr Kyagulanyi and Dr Besigye, met at different locations, including at the latter’s home in Kasangati, to deal a consensus.
Earlier in 2020, a team led by Bobi and Dr Besigye held a joint press conference in a Hotel in Wakiso District and addressed the pressing issues that Ugandans faced during the Covid-19 pandemic. They vowed to continue working together but the bond broke when Dr Besigye was attacked by youth wearing People Power paraphernalia as he exited the Buganda-Kingdom affiliated CBS radio studio in Kampala. Also, during the 2021 presidential elections, teams of different opposition camps were summoned to Kampala for a crisis meeting at Hotel Africana where the principals released a joint statement about the violence that was orchestrated against them.
Many people had hoped that they would have called off the campaigns and rallied behind a single candidate. Another such joint meeting was held in 2022 where the Opposition parties signed a pact to work together, and accused the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party of promoting electoral malpractice in connivance with the EC. In their joint statement, which was read by Mr Rubongoya, the Opposition leaders cited the blatant election cheating, particularly in the by-elections in Kayunga, Omoro, and Soroti.
This was seen as an impetus for a renewed cooperation. This publication understands that the ongoing talks have also explored the chances of who would stand as a joint presidential candidate, with NUP insisting on their principal as better placed. But PFF, close sources intimated, were also not about to give up on fronting their four-time presidential candidate Dr Besigye.
“The only uphill task would be dragging the old man (Dr Besigye) to the ballot since he has laid bare his reservations about elections in this country and that he does not intend to ever run in another election,” the source said. Despite his previous reservations about elections, the sources said Dr Besigye believes the elections can be used as a tool for mass mobilization to bring Ugandans together to speak with one voice to address the governance issues in the country. Mr Wafula said: “That is a discussion we have not yet had because everything is in the formative stages and the two principals would have to agree on one position.”
Mr Erias Lukwago, the PFF interim head, said: “We are dealing with a military government and removing a military regime is not easy. Picking up arms can be catastrophic, we need much more collective actions to build a national critical mass, the presumption that parties can fight this alone needs to be appreciated.”
Briefing Dr Besigye
This newspaper understands that earlier in the week, a delegation of PFF was sent to Luzira Maximum Security Prison to brief Dr Besigye on progress of the talks, with the hope that if his bail application is granted in two weeks, they would launch the PFF.
Dr Besigye and his co-accused Obed Lutale have been battling treason charges for six months after they were arrested in Kenya. The two camps hope to harness their different strengths, with PFF eager to ride on the NUP while NUP hopes to ride on the national political appeal of PFF.
“For instance, there are grey areas in the other parts of the country and PFF would help NUP to get this kind of national appeal and even when it comes to getting polling assistants for the 38, 315 polling stations across the country,” the sources said.
Mr Lukwago said: “We need a common political front for a common good, fighting with common interests. For any given struggle, there should be clear commanders.”
About PFF
The new People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) party was borne of a split in the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, formerly the biggest opposition party in Uganda between 2006 and 2020. But in June 2023, the cracks that had been developing within FDC grew wider as endless internal bickering brewed over.
The disagreement caused a split as many of the party leaders, including the chairman, Mr Wasswa Birigwa, party deputy President Erias Lukwago, party spokesperson Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, and deputy secretary general Harold Kaija, jumped ship. They joined a pressure group headed by FDC co-founder Dr Besigye at Katonga Road in Kampala City where he had established a base after he resigned as FDC president in 2011.
Both party president Patrick Oboi Amuriat and secretary general Nathan Nandala Mafabi and party youth league leader stayed at Najjanankumbi on the Kampala-Entebbe road ahead of the 2026 General Election.
