Alumni move to discuss transition in a bid to revive UYD’s lost glory

The alumni of the Uganda Young Democrats have organized symposium among other items is intended to forge ways of reviving their lost glory.

According to Christopher Okidi, the Democratic Party national youth leader, the party’s youth wing which was once the strongest has had its glory fade so fast and hence the need for revival.

“UYD is a brand in Ugandan politics that should be protected to continue playing its role in the politics of Uganda but it has been on a downward trajectory after failing to manage a leadership transition,”Okidi says.

“The symposium will, therefore, help us refocus with an aim of ensuring a  transition so that young people born in the 1990s and 2000s take it up as a vehicle to make a contribution to the struggle for the liberation of their country.”

Okidi said that alumni convened a round table meeting on Friday where among other things, they discussed the transition process as one of the ways that will see the lost glory of the DP youth wing revived.

According to Isaac Maddo, a UYD member, it is high time their constitution aligned well with the one for the Democratic Party as one of the ways to ensure harmony.

“We think there's also need to agree on ideological belonging and the symposium can articulate these issues very well,”Maddo says.

Moses Katende, the symposium publicist says the UYD leadership had been hijacked by what he terms as myopic issues and that at the symposium, the youth league will be organized.

The symposium is set for November 6 and 7 in Entebbe and the UYD alumni, youth league regional leaders, the top youth league leadership and league students union across the country will participate

“The symposium shall then give direction to a youth delegates conference that shall put in place a formidable UYD structure,”Katende says.

Accusations of selfishness and greed have always dominated several UYD reunions across the country.

The DP youth wing during its golden days is credited for giving birth to formidable politicians including Muwanga Kivumbi, Fred Mukasa Mbidde, Michael Mabikke and Brenda Nabukenya among others who have been forces to reckon with in Uganda’s politics.

The youth wing has however in the past years struggled to live to its expectations with internal fights and intrigue taking a large part of their activities