Recently, the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) leader Jimmy Akena came out to openly campaign against President Museveni, whom he had for the past few years enjoyed a good political relationship.
Addressing parliamentary, LC5, and mayoral candidates on the UPC ticket at his home in Lira City on November 8, Mr Akena urged his party’s flagbearers to capitalise on the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s empty promises to win the 2026 elections.
For more than a decade, Akena had enjoyed an affable relationship when President Museveni, who, in the process, appointed Akena’s wife, Betty Amongi, the Oyam South MP on the UPC card, as Minister of Lands and later Minister of Gender.
These appointments occurred amid talks of an alliance between Akena’s UPC and the ruling NRM.
Whether the talks culminated in anything tangible, sources to the goings on between the two camps say it was never formalised, leaving Mr Akena bruised.
‘Very many issues that UPC was seeking to address never came through on the side of President Museveni. UPC and Akena think the President is not being honest, and that is where the problem stems from. After we realised that the relationship was not heading anywhere, we decided to jump ship,’ a top UPC leader, who asked not to be named, told this reporter.
Sources say Akena had hoped for something similar to what happened with the Democratic Party (DP).
In July 2022, the NRM party signed a working cooperation agreement with DP. President Museveni, also the national chairman of NRM, signed on behalf of the party, while Mr Norbert Mao signed on behalf of DP.
In the 42-clause agreement, the two parties not only agreed to share political power but also to foster constitutionalism and the respect of human rights.
Fallout
At a recent event in Boroboro, Lira City, Akena knelt when the national anthem was sung as a sign of protest against what he called injustice from President Museveni.
‘I am not leaving Museveni, I am bumper to bumper with Museveni, up to the end. That is my one focus, I am going to stick to him, if he tosses this, I am going to be on his neck, there is nothing I am going to let pass,’ Akena said.
But while addressing journalists from Baralegi State Lodge in Lango Sub-region, President Museveni denied any knowledge of what happened to Akena or UPC, stating he only ‘saw it in the papers’.
But writing in a recent column in this newspaper, Mr Obed Katureebe, the acting executive director of the Uganda Media Centre, accused Mr Akena of badmouthing President Museveni because he missed the nomination to stand as a presidential candidate.
‘Mr Akena is all over accusing President Museveni of frustrating his presidential ambitions and undermining Uganda’s oldest political party. In his delusion, he has publicly urged people in the Lango Sub-region to shun President Museveni and deny him votes come January 15, 2026,’ he wrote.
‘The Electoral Commission (EC), in its September 22 communication, argued that Mr Akena’s term as UPC president expired on August 1, and, therefore, he lacked the mandate to stand as the party’s flagbearer.’
Bobi-Akena bromance
On October 24, in Akokoro Village in Apac District, a gate opened, ushering in National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, to his ancestral home. It was more than a symbolism of Mr Akena welcoming Bobi Wine to his home, but rather cementing a relationship that had been brewing.
This gesture, in the middle of an election, was received with mixed reactions. While some warmed up to it, others viewed it as a betrayal given the fallout between Akena’s father, former president Milton Obote, and former Kabaka Edward Muteesa II, which culminated in the 1966 Buganda Crisis.
‘If I can meet with President Museveni, what would make me not meet with Mr Kyagulanyi? What kind of intolerance are we trying to bring about?’ Akena questioned while explaining the incident during a press briefing at the UPC headquarters in Kampala.
‘I will continue to meet Kyagulanyi and fight to see how we can work together, especially for our people in the entire country. That is the kind of leadership that our forefathers left us. When my father died, I made a solemn promise that I would help and set the record straight, and this election of 2026 gives me that kind of opportunity, so I am not being belligerent for nothing,’ he added.
For the last seven or so months, Mr Akena has been a frequent visitor at the NUP headquarters at Kavule, holding meetings with the party leadership with the intent of working together in the elections.
Commenting on his meeting with Akena in Akokoro, Bobi Wine said: ‘That visit alone touched me, and in many ways, changed even my orientation to northern Uganda.’
‘My generation and those younger are being taught to be divided, being taught not to love each other, being taught to live when we miss the unfortunate events of the past. I realised that we are more similar than different, and that it is more beneficial when we are together. We have to be tolerant with each other and not judge others by their past,’ he added.
Can alliance deny NRM Lango?
The Akena-Bobi Wine meetings buy into the bigger conversation of bringing the Opposition together to fight the ruling NRM, a goal which has always eluded the Opposition.
Political commentators have attributed this to selfishness, viewing political positions as offices and the lack of authority for political parties over their members.
Dr Frederick Golooba-Mutebi (PhD), a Political Scientist from Makerere University, says there is nothing new in Ugandan politics as the Opposition has always gone for each other in election contests.
‘It would only be surprising if they came together behind one candidate, but as it stands, they have always run against each other because the political parties don’t have authority over their members, and the candidates are equally indisciplined,’ Golooba says.
Ms Sarah Bireete, the Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), says the formation of some of these splinter groups makes it hard for the Opposition to come together and form alliances.
‘Opposition is too selfish to unite, yet their best fighting chance lies in unity. If today, genuine Opposition came together and ensured a win or good performance in every region, it would be game up for President Museveni and his party. The elements working against unity are only working in favour of the regime. Because of the uneven ground, no single Opposition party can win power on its own. They need to combine their capital and human resources plus their support base to win,’ Bireete says.
Ms Bireete says there are many areas the Opposition can unite around, including the abductions of supporters, because these are cross-cutting issues that affect all of them.
The politics in all this
Some political analysts say the vote in Lango would give NUP an advantage if Akena, looked at as a kingmaker in Lango, decided to front Bobi Wine in a place where President Museveni has enjoyed victory.
The UPC-NRM fault lines have already seen Akena’s wife, Ms Amongi, decide to contest against President Museveni’s Health minister, Jane Ruth Acheng, for the Lira City Woman MP seat.
But Mr Katureebe is confident of an NRM win in Lango.
‘They know better what President Museveni has done for Lango, and no wonder they have overwhelmingly voted NRM in the previous general elections and that there is nothing Mr Akena can do now to change the course of events. NRM got more than 70 percent in the 2021 General Election. Without a doubt, people in Lango will not fall for Mr Akena’s propaganda,’ he wrote.