{UAH} FUTURE OF AFRICAN OPPOSITION PARTIES

Opposition political parties were stilborn in most if not all Independent African states.The parties that were handed the

instruments of Governance regarded Opposition parties as anti development and anti unity not as Alternate Governing parties.

Given the circumstances operating then,many of these parties were either forced to become party of a grand so called Unity

government party or found it realistic to get embedded within the ruling party.Some like KADU in Kenya played their cards well and had one of their leaders assume ultimate leadership of the country.

Those whose leaders were fast tracking their own leadership agenda had their hands burned very early and with that their political parties placed into the obscurity of destiny.

With this type of background,it is often very difficult to talk about the future of Opposition parties in Africa given that Africa for

a long time has been under military dictatorship or quasi democracy where only one visionary "leader" reigns.

Even with the wave of political changes sweeping through Africa from the early 1990s,what has been dubbed Opposition party success in removing an Independence ruling political party has been from disenchanted members of the same ruling party morphing into activists and joing non Governmental Organizations to mobilize calls for change from the status quo.That is exactly what the MMD in Zambia under the late Frederick Chibula did.They were successful because Dr Kenneth Kaunda

never knew of the term rigging.

When we go to Kenya,even with all the pro Opposition NGO support,Moi still won the two terms that the changed consititution

had in place.He artifully used the power of incumbency to hold his fort.Had he not taken a detour around who his successor was,it is possible KANU would have won the elections after his two terms were over.

Now with Uganda,given that at one time everyone was forced to become NRM,what we see as Opposition is just an array of activists who are pointing out the excesses of malgovernance that has become to characterize the Museveni paramilitary junta.

To dislodge Museveni,without recourse to gun fire,it would involve a segment of the NRA abandoning him and joining with the Opposition activists and ensuring that the tricks of populating ballots in ballot boxes is never carried out and thus ensuring Museveni does not get his phantom electoral results.

The NGOs in Uganda that the political activists could rely on to achieve this are unfortunately Museveni's own conduit to perpetuate the corruption that he lives by.

So,when talking about the future of Opposition parties in Uganda,we cannot summarily say they will go through the process of natural attrition.All they need is to identify conduits they can use to turn tables on NRA/M.The very catch phrases that Museveni uses to dupe wanainchi will be the same that will bring him down given that there are glaring stories about none delivery on his own rhetora.

Kipenji