{UAH} The Observer - As NRM fights, opposition courts unity
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The Observer - As NRM fights, opposition courts unity
Thursday, 03 April 2014 23:15
With the ruling NRM gripped by a power struggle between Chairman Museveni and Secretary General Amama Mbabazi, opposition leaders are looking to revitalize their own push for power.
From meetings chaired by UPC President Olara Otunnu, the opposition appears to be taking the prospect of fielding joint candidates in 2016 seriously.
"We have been meeting as a coordinating team, and in some of the meetings, several ideas have been raised, but for now, we are not discussing the 2016 elections," said Bishop Zac Niringiye, a civil society activist, in a recent interview.
In recent months, the country has been treated to a surprising power struggle in the ruling party. On the one side is President Museveni, backed by party MPs, on the other is Mbabazi, who appears to have built strong rapport with lower-level party cadres over the years.
The pro-Museveni group claims that Mbabazi had laid firm ground to upstage Museveni at a delegates' conference and take over leadership of the party. Mr Mbabazi has denied these claims, but he has since "learnt" that his wife was mobilizing in his favour.
These struggles appear to have whetted the appetite for cooperation in the opposition. Their talks had begun last year, with leaders pushing the idea of a joint presidential candidate for 2016. They have since focused on a campaign for electoral reforms.
During last year's donor-funded talks, it was hoped that by the end of September 2013, the parties would have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU).
"What is happening now are the fruits of those [2013] discussions," Niringiye told The Observer.
Willing coalition
Internal squabbles within the parties were blamed for the collapse of the earlier talks. The latest round, however, has excluded Beti Kamya's Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA) and Michael Mabikke's Social Democratic party (SDP). They are between DP, UPC, FDC, CP and Jeema.
"The current initiative is ideally the coalition of the willing… the discussions are centred on parties with representation in Parliament because they have a higher leverage to push through our demands," said Jeema President Asuman Basalirwa. "But we are thinking of opening up to others that are willing because this is a national cause."
According to a source close to the talks, the parties have even toyed with merging to form one electoral platform.
Rebranding
"We are looking at something like the Kenyan arrangement, because to defeat [Daniel arap] Moi, the Kenyans left the traditional parties and formed [the rainbow alliance] that eventually forced Moi out," the source said.
At a recent special opposition caucus meeting at Parliament, attended by party presidents, it was agreed that each party nominates two people to a coordinating team to draft the working paper for the new party.
"It is still in its infancy but the general consensus is that it doesn't offer much for a party to be proud of its history when it has not been able to win power," the source further told us.
Bishop Niringiye, a key figure in the talks, remained vague.
"The way Kenyans dealt with Moi was a very good idea; you can't move from a dictatorship [directly] to a democracy," he said, comparing Moi to Museveni, whom he called a dictator. he added: "Because the institutions of democracy have been killed, you need a transitional government like the Kenyans had [Mwai] Kibaki to rebuild the institutions of a democratic government."
Niringiye, however, thinks that calls for mergers and coalitions are irrelevant at the moment: "…We must commit ourselves to a journey towards genuine multiparty democracy."
Besides the political parties, the talks have also brought on board civil society organisations (CSOs) such as the Centre For Constitutional Governance (CCG), Citizens' Coalition For Electoral Democracy In Uganda (CCEDU), Development Network Of Indigenous Voluntary Associations (Deniva), Facilitation For Peace and Development (FAPAD) and Forum For Women in Democracy (Fowode), among others.
No turning back
The ongoing countrywide campaign, dubbed "the call for free and fair elections" will end in April.
"We are not turning back on these demands [for free and fair elections]," Niringiye said. "In April, we are going to review the nature of the response we would have got from the citizens and government and then prepare for a national consultative meeting which will come up with specific legislative proposals that will go to Parliament."
sadabkk@observer.ug
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