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Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) president Jimmy Akena, is basking in the aftermath of the recent resounding Dokolo District Woman Member of Parliament seat byelection victory won by party flag-bearer Sarah Aguti.

It was quite an upset for the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement, on March 21, 2024, when Aguti won in all 11 sub-counties and three town councils by a wide margin of 9,043 votes.

Akena, who is also the Lira City East Division MP, says winning a byelection is not a walk in the park to them. 

“Winning a byelection is not easy and winning a byelection against the ruling party that has focused all its resources is something big,” the son of Uganda’s former president and UPC founding president, the late Milton Obote, says.

Akena, who continues to tap into the legacy of his father as a campaign tool, made the remarks during a morning talk show on one of the local TV stations in Kampala on Tuesday, March 26.

The parliamentary seat fell vacant following the death of Forum for Democratic Change’s (FDC) veteran lawmaker Cecilia Ogwal on January 18, 2024.

“Lessons from Oyam helped us in Dokolo and lessons from Dokolo will help us, moving forward. Aguti now has an opportunity to define herself not to fill in the shoes of Cecilia Ogwal. Aguti has now gotten an opportunity to showcase what she is capable of,” he adds.

NRM flag-bearer Janet Rose Adongo came second and Ogwal’s daughter, Dr Rosemary Alwoc, came third in a race of six contenders.

In July last year, UPC also made a political statement when its candidate Otuko Apio won the Oyam North parliamentary byelection.

“The lessons we learned in Oyam guided us in the Dokolo byelection. UPC is being rejuvenated and we are preparing for the 2026 elections. The late Ogwal was bigger than FDC in Dokolo. She would have even won without an FDC ticket. So, the Dokolo win wasn’t a surprise to us because we were on the ground campaigning,” Akena said.

On the wrangles rocking FDC and the main opposition party, National Unity Platform (NUP), he said he was not happy about them. 

“I’m not impressed with what is happening in FDC and NUP because parties are supposed to be strong,” Akena said. 

“I still believe IPOD [the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue] creates a platform for communication, but the problem we have in the politics of this country is that they don’t want to see you sitting with those you are competing with,” he added.

His wife, Betty Amongi, the Oyam South MP on the UPC ticket, serves in the NRM-led government as minister of gender, labour, and social development although the ruling party has never signed any cooperation agreement with UPC, which led Uganda to independence in October 1962 and dominated the country’s politics from that time until January 25, 1971.

On January 25, 1971, Obote was overthrown by Idi Amin but the party, which was founded in 1960, returned to power again under Obote in 1980 until he was overthrown again in 1985 by Tito Okello.

Composition of parliament

NRM has been enjoying an absolute majority in Parliament since 2006 when the country first went to the polls after the restoration of multiparty politics in 2005.

Of the 528 MPs in the current Parliament, excluding 25 ex-officio members, 339 are NRM and 73 independents.

NUP has 57, FDC 30, UPC 11, Democratic Party nine while JEEMA and Peoples Progressive Party have one each.