Five opposition parties form 'Holy Alliance' ahead of post-Museveni era
Leader of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED), Joseph Kabuleta.
What you need to know:
- Member parties of the Holly Alliance say they do not necessarily want to be in opposition in case the near 4-decade Museveni presidency ends.
At least five opposition political parties have formed an alliance dubbed Holy Alliance “to prepare Uganda for the post Museveni era.”
Political Parties involved include Jeema which is headed by Asuman Basalirwa, National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party led by Joseph Kabuleta, Democratic Party (DP) bloc under Lubega Mukaku, the Conservative Party (CP) led by Ken Lukyamuzi and the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).
“We have to be prepared for what happens afterward because we do not want to wake up one morning when is not there and we are not ready on how we want the country to be governed,” Kabuleta said at the launch of the alliance in Kampala on Tuesday.
Kabuleta emphasized that Holly Alliance member parties do not necessarily want to be in opposition in case the near 4-decade Museveni presidency ends.
The former presidential candidate expressed concern that “national disintegration could follow President Museveni’s departure because people were never prepared.”
“We have to be prepared and one of the main things to be discussed for democracy to thrive is economic empowerment and financial liberation. People who are economically disempowered have no business in politics because they are going to be bought,” Kabuleta noted.
Basalirwa followed to say that their alliance has identified unique attributes that call for action in Uganda under its multiparty dispensation since 2005.
“All the parties in the alliance have agreed to constitute themselves in the holy alliance and be holy to reality, good governance, constitutionalism, justice, and the rule of law,” he remarked on Tuesday.
“In our pursuit of this initiative, we are going to task each member to address the nation on a particular item to have a stable political transition,” he noted.
On his part, Lukyamuzi called for understanding of federalism and its science for a better post-Museveni era.
“Uganda is a country with different, nations, languages, cultures, and heritage, you cannot come up and mess up a country that even the British feared and respected internationally,” he observed.
Despite having dissident political parties on board, much more prominent opposition parties like the National Unity Platform (NUP) and Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) remain absent from the alliance.
