KAMPALA — The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has formally written to the National Unity Platform (NUP), urging Uganda’s largest opposition party to take the lead in uniting opposition forces amid what it describes as escalating political persecution.
In a letter delivered to NUP leadership on June 16, the PPP argued that fragmentation among opposition parties since the 2021 general elections has weakened their collective influence, leaving individual formations vulnerable.
Speaking at a news briefing at the party’s offices in Kampala on Wednesday, PPP Chairperson Saddam Gayira said the current political environment had made it difficult for isolated parties to survive independently.
“We realised as a party that we cannot face the monster approaching us alone,” Gayira told journalists.
The PPP’s call comes at a politically sensitive moment, marked by heightened tensions within the opposition. It references the reported exile of NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi, the ongoing detention of opposition veteran Kizza Besigye, and the recent arrest of former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.
Gayira said NUP, which holds the largest share of opposition seats in Parliament, carries both the opportunity and responsibility to rally other parties into a unified political bloc.
During the briefing, he also acknowledged long-standing divisions within the opposition, admitting that internal mistrust has repeatedly undermined unity efforts.
“This pattern of internal rivalry has previously weakened coalition attempts, including the Inter-Party Coalition in 2011 and The Democratic Alliance in 2016,” he noted, pointing to historical failures where opposition groups failed to agree on joint presidential strategies.
PPP Secretary General David Alira Opii warned that continued fragmentation could further expose opposition leaders to political risks, arguing that cooperation was now a matter of survival rather than competition.
“When no politician is safe from state arrests, hiding behind isolated party agendas is no longer an option,” Opii said.
While the PPP did not outline a detailed roadmap for the proposed alliance, its leadership stressed that any meaningful strategy would require collective agreement among opposition actors.
Responding to the proposal, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi welcomed the idea of cooperation but emphasized that responsibility should be shared across all political actors.
“It is not only the role of NUP, but of all Ugandans to come out and fight together as a team,” Ssenyonyi said.
Stumbling block
However, PPP's noble intentions might be the hardest for the opposition in Uganda to even start on. Over the years, opposition politics has repeatedly struggled with achieving lasting unity, particularly on key strategic issues such as agreeing on a single presidential candidate and forming a cohesive electoral alliance.
Despite shared grievances and common policy positions on governance, corruption, and political freedoms, opposition parties have often fractured at critical moments.
Efforts such as the 2011 Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC), which brought together parties including the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), Democratic Party (DP), and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), collapsed amid disagreements over leadership and the selection of a joint presidential flag bearer.
A similar attempt in 2016 under the Democratic Alliance also failed to materialise into a unified electoral force, again due to disputes over candidature and party autonomy.
In the 2021 general elections, the opposition vote was once again split, with then newly formed NUP emerging as a dominant force while traditional parties like FDC, DP, and UPC contested separately.
This fragmentation weakened the opposition’s overall electoral competitiveness, particularly in presidential and parliamentary races, where coordinated strategy could have delivered stronger results.
While opposition parties often converge on national concerns, internal rivalries, ideological differences, leadership ambitions, and lack of binding coalition structures have consistently undermined sustained cooperation.
As a result, even when consensus emerges in principle, it frequently breaks down during implementation, especially around power-sharing arrangements and joint campaign strategy.
Meanwhile, at the news briefing, Samuel Walter Lubega Mukaku called for broader national dialogue, warning that the country risks further division if tensions continue to escalate.
Referring to circulating social media images allegedly linked to the detention of Lukwago, Mukaku said that if the visuals are authentic and not AI-generated, the situation would be “beastly.”
The proposal for a united opposition front adds to ongoing debate about cohesion within Uganda’s political opposition, which has historically struggled to maintain long-term alliances ahead of elections.