Soft vs hardline politics shaping opposition parties

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The Democratic Front (DF) officially launched its bid for the 2026 elections in Masaka last week, marking its entry onto Uganda’s political scene.

DF is a newly formed political party founded by former members of the National Unity Platform (NUP), who broke ranks over differing strategies in opposing President Yoweri Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The party has become a haven for politicians who were sidelined by NUP hardliners for allegedly failing to embrace its militant politics of defiance and protest.

Branded as soft and overly non-confrontational in their approach to challenging what they call a dictatorship, some of them were even accused of being compromised. Led by Mathias Mpuuga, DF intentionally launched from Masaka, where it enjoys significant support and currently holds three parliamentary seats.

These include Mpuuga, the MP for Nyendo Mukungwe; Dr Abed Bwanika, MP for Kimanya-Kabonera and Juliet Nakabuye Kakande, Masaka City Woman MP.

The deepening rift between NUP hardliners and the moderates became visible in January during the funeral of Kawempe North MP Mohammed Segirinya.

A public confrontation ensued over who would preside over the ceremony. Hardliners, led by NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi (also known as Bobi Wine), took control of the funeral and barred the faction led by Mpuuga, who was also representing Parliament, from participating.

Since its inception, NUP has frequently blocked perceived political adversaries from attending funerals of its members and supporters. In some cases, government officials have been publicly rejected and chased away from such ceremonies, which is considered taboo in nearly all Ugandan cultures.

These incidents reflect NUP’s confrontational political style. The party views President Museveni and the NRM as violent and believes in retaliating through equally forceful means.

As Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and NUP vice-president for Buganda, Mpuuga took a different path, favouring dialogue over confrontation.

This stance led to accusations that he was collaborating with the regime and betraying NUP’s cause. With several party supporters imprisoned, Mpuuga was expected by critics to take a more combative approach.

Instead, he was mocked for merely “speaking polished English and wearing fine suits” as if everything were normal.

Kyagulanyi publicly criticised Mpuuga’s moderate politics, stating, “If you pretend to be normal in an abnormal situation, we don’t understand you. Stop this nonsense of talking about policy. No policy in Uganda will be implemented. The first policy is to maintain the freedom of our people, to make sure that all Ugandans are treated as human beings.”

When reports emerged that Mpuuga and MPs like Bwanika were exploring talks with President Museveni to secure the release of detained NUP supporters, they were accused of betrayal.

The official party position is that prisoners are released unconditionally.

However, the continued imprisonment of the supporters gives the hardliners a reason to fight and makes it a political campaign issue.

The Government, on its part, wouldn’t cave into any pressure to release them unconditionally, fearing being deemed weak if it did. For not toeing the party line, thinking differently, and attempting to gain fthe reedom of party supporters through talks, Mpuuga was punished.

He was stripped of the LOP and sacked as party vice-president for Buganda.

Beneath these differences was a growing power struggle. Mpuuga’s prominence as LOP, with his active parliamentary contributions, began to eclipse Kyagulanyi’s visibility.

His rising political stature gave the impression that he was positioning himself for the party leadership. Feeling threatened, Kyagulanyi acted.

These ideological divisions between hardliners and moderates have now crystallised into two separate political entities. NUP remains the vehicle for defiant, protest-oriented politics; to look different, DF will opt for engagement and consensus, hallmarks of a more progressive democratic approach. Both parties, however, are still primarily rooted in Buganda.

This is not the first time Uganda has witnessed such a split along ideological lines. The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) experienced a similar fracture in 2019 when a faction led by Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu broke away to form the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).

Muntu’s non-confrontational politics led to accusations of being a government mole. Nonetheless, his popularity within the FDC saw him elected as party president, indicating a preference among many for his approach. However, this contradicted FDC’s founding leader Col Kizza Besigye’s long held view that President Museveni could not be removed through the ballot.

In 2011, Besigye spearheaded the “walk-to-work” protests, and a year later stepped down from the FDC presidency to pursue alternative strategies for regime change.

A four-time presidential candidate, Besigye insisted he had not retired from the struggle to free Uganda from Museveni’s rule. He established his political base on Katonga Road in Kampala’s upscale Nakasero suburb, which now hosts the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF).

After Muntu and others exited, a more radical faction aligned with Besigye, led by Patrick Amuriat and Nandala Mafabi as president and secretary-general, took control of FDC. These two were seen as Besigye’s preferred allies, unlike Muntu, with whom relations were strained, possibly due to their shared history in the army. At one point, Muntu, as army commander, was Besigye’s superior.

However, Besigye eventually fell out with Amuriat and Nandala, accusing them of accepting “dirty money” from Museveni to fund the 2021 elections.

This led to another FDC split: one faction (FDC-Katonga) operating from Besigye’s Katonga Road office, and the other (FDC-Najjanankumbi) remaining at the party’s official headquarters.

FDC-Katonga has since rebranded as the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) and has attracted numerous FDC MPs and supporters. It now appears to embody the spirit of the original FDC more than the Najjanankumbi faction, which still claims the FDC name.

Once Uganda’s leading opposition party and considered a government-in-waiting, FDC, now led by Amuriat, is a shadow of its former self.

Many of its top members have disengaged from politics or defected to parties like the PFF, NRM and NUP.

On Wednesday, PFF and ANT signed a cooperation agreement, an ironic twist, given that PFF is effectively a reincarnation of the FDC that ANT once broke away from. With new political parties emerging, such pacts are likely but will still be undermined by strategic differences.

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