How democracy academy can shape Uganda’s young politicians

“As young leaders, if we are to unite together as Ugandans to steer our country in a fundamentally new direction, we need to learn to coexist. We shouldn’t use political parties as organisations to divide us but use them as a unifying factor. When we put our thoughts and ideas together regardless of political parties, we can discuss better ways and methods to develop Uganda,” says 26-year old Fred Adriko, a graduate of the Uganda Democracy Academy.

A member of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), Adriko intends to contest as the Maracha District local government LCV chairperson in the 2026 general elections.  
The views of Ms Hellen Kebirungi, the female youth councillor for Kanungu District under the National Resistance Movement ticket, don’t differ from Adriko’s. During training at the academy in September 2023, Kebirungi learnt that much as individuals carry political party differences, there is need for young people to learn to work together in Uganda’s political environment that’s characterised with hate and tribalism.

“Political differences come with mindset. However, the spirit of togetherness to work for a common cause, which is a better Uganda where everyone is involved in its running is what will lead to democracy. The earlier we understand this as young leaders, the closer we become,” Kebirungi says.   
 
Abdul-Wahab Kasozi, the Organising secretary of the Justice Forum (Jeema) youth league, who was also one of the trainees says the fact that most trainers at the academy are former experienced politicians, means trainees are mentored on what to do and avoid when they get into elective politics.
“The training at the academy instilled in me a sense of self accountability without waiting for pressure from the people I serve. This helps me be transparent and honest in everything I do as a young leader. I was able to understand crucial aspects that what determine the budget of the country starts at the local council level,” Kasozi says.

Adriko, Kebirungi and Kasozi are some of the 30 young leaders aged 18 to 35 from seven political parties who were trained in political parties, National Youths Council (NYC) and the Uganda National Students Association (UNSA) about democratic values, practices and principles at the Uganda Democracy Academy (UDA) in September 2023 in Kalangala district for three weeks.

The learning experience of studying and staying together at the academy, was, among other objectives, aimed at awakening the realisation among youth politicians that there is not huge difference between leaders in various political parties. It was also aimed at making young politicians appreciate that the difference in political ideology doesn’t make one a rebel and an enemy of the other in Uganda’s current political environment where majority of leaders, including the young people have not been inducted or educated on democracy values, principles, ethos and good governance. Very few have been exposed to political science and the majority are learning on the job and are being exposed to wrong politics of hate, bias and discrimination that is building xenophobia and tribal based politics.

Sebastian Rwengabo, a political scientist, trainer and leadership consultant says the advantage of taking youthful politicians through the democracy academy deepens their understanding about the historical and contemporary dangers of political inconsistencies that were observed during the 1960s and beyond. These include the merger between the Royalists and nationalist political forces (Kabaka Yekka) and Uganda People’s Congress, political groups which had completely opposed or incompatible political ideologies but temporarily joined the forces, thinking that they were to defeat Democratic Party which was a common enemy when they knew that they couldn’t work together. When disagreements flared up between these factions, they couldn’t resolve the differences peacefully and plunged the country into armed conflicts, starting with the attack on the Kabaka’s Palace and subsequent developments.

“We impress it upon the trainees that inconsistent political choices and convictions are problematic for the sustainable development of a stable political culture. The academy appeals to young politicians to take time to read about Uganda’s history to understand the difficult political choices that forefathers made, however much they may disagree with the choices and decisions they made. This understanding helps them understand the importance of peaceful resolution of political differences and conflicts instead of resorting to violent solutions for political differences,” Rwengabo explains.
The training at the academy also makes young politicians like Kasozi, Adriko and Kebirungi understand electoral policies, where the nature of Uganda’s electoral system is such that the winner takes it all even if they have 30 percent of the cast votes.
“One of the challenges that render elective politics highly contentious is that losing an election shouldn’t be seen as a matter of life and death. Winning an election shouldn’t make someone pompous regardless of the political party. At the end of the day, the development sphere that results from poor governance affects everyone. This way, trainees are able to understand that the responsibility they hold when they meet in Parliament is not their ideology of the small parties they represent but to the whole country,” Rwengabo adds.

Primus Atukwatse Bahiigi, the Country Director of the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) that runs the democracy academy explains that despite the opening of the political space in 2005, Uganda’s opposition political parties continue to operate in very restricted environment with limited opportunities for growing membership base.
Bahiigi argues that young people in Uganda between the ages of 15 to 30 were born and have grown up under one political regime of President Museveni and have not witnessed any other leaders, neither have they witnessed an environment where multiparty democracy is functioning.

“Those who are active in politics have only witnessed situations where the opposition is demonised, restricted and treated as rebels and saboteurs of development and government programs. Such trends of events is why the past and present democracy academy will be key in promoting a culture of pluralism, tolerance, appreciation of diversity and steady progress toward realisation of democratic culture and achievement of the middle-income status,” Bahiigi says.

“Most conflicts happening inter and intra party are largely because of limited knowledge and capacity of leaders of democracy, dialogue and conflict management and interests. Systematic and well-planned training will help in shaping the mindset of young leaders in regard to leadership and democracy, thus contributing to growth and strengthening of democracy,” Bahiigi adds.

Held regularly, with the first semester of the second cohort of trainees starting next week, the democracy school is a place where young leaders are empowered with skills in democracy and connect with each other to act on strengthening democracy in Uganda. The academy follows participatory approaches of training and ensures that participants have the opportunity to use the public as learning space by challenging them to find space to pilot ideas and report back on the progress made in specific areas.