When the NilePost reported that members of the National Unity Platform, Augustine Muganga and Sam Lukyamuzi from Mubende District, had threatened to sue Mpuuga’s Democratic Alliance over appointing them for coordinator roles without consulting them, it was easier to take it for a simple error and let it pass.
In fact, Muganga had speculated that Mpuuga might have taken his name from a popular Mubende WhatsApp group, where he is very active.
Fast forward, a letter from JEEMA’s Secretary General, Muhammad Kateregga, surfaced, and in it, he condemned the Democratic Alliance leadership for appointing him and other party members to their national coordination team.
“We want to categorically state and confirm any cooperation between JEEMA and the Democratic Alliance is yet to be approved by NEC.
Justice Forum (JEEMA) has not committed any of its members to the Democratic Alliance processes,” the statement partly read.
At the start of the week, the Democratic Party—also Mpuuga’s former party—condemned the Democratic Alliance for selecting six Democratic Party leaders, including Grace Asiimwe, their NEC Member representing Bunyoro; Bigoggo Sunday, the party chairman for Hoima City; Hillary Besekya, the chairman of Lubirizi District; Humphrey Kirungi, the party chairman of Buliisa; and Moses Ochole, the LC5 chairman of Amuria District.
The Democratic Party Secretary General, Gerald Siranda, had insisted that while DP is open to alliances and cooperation, such engagements must be structured.
“If you want help from DP, communicate, but don’t just try to take its members,” Siranda said.
The three isolated incidents point to a party that has struggled to find its footing after controversially stating they were a political party while launching in Namirembe in December and that they were 70% into this process—a stance that has since changed.
The Democratic Alliance’s figurehead at the moment maintains they are not a political party but a political civic space that “is not just a small umbrella but a big tent.”
Political analyst and executive analyst Timothy Chemonges says the party is facing an identity crisis. He says that though the outfit had been created after misunderstandings with the National Unity Platform, its leadership didn’t exactly understand how it would operate.
He, though, explains that the ambiguity surrounding the party and its recent attempts to poach members from fellow opposition parties could be deliberate.
“What Mpuuga has been striving to do is to try and have a comeback, and that is not a simple task to undertake. He is struggling to create a different version of Mpuuga from what people knew,” Chemonges added.
Mpuuga, while launching the Democratic Alliance in December 2024, said “the biggest opposition party in the country is in deep slumber,” referring to the National Unity Platform.
He said the current opposition had been consumed by divisive politics. Whether he achieves the contrary and fixes opposition politics in the country with his Democratic Alliance outfit is debatable.