On Wednesday, Kyadondo East MP, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine and former presidential candidate Dr Kizza Besigye announced that they had agreed to work together to oust the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) led by President Museveni come 2021 general elections.
The two former friends have been at loggerheads since the Kyandodo East MP joined elective politics with many analysts tipping the singer to become the face of the opposition in the coming elections something that has only widened the gap between the two.
Kizza Besigye has on several occasions been seen and heard saying that Bobi Wine is a political novice who is not yet ready for an election as big as that for Presidency and that he should wait for his time when it comes.
Kizza Besigye is also not known to tolerate strong figures in the opposition, even in his FDC party where he bittery split with a group loyal to former FDC President Mugisha Muntu.
The alliance comes at a time after Members of the DP bloc who include Mr Mao, Peoples Development Party’s Abed Bwanika and Mr Michael Mabikke, the leader of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) announced an alliance with Bobi Wine’s People power camp, and this had excluded Dr Besigye.
PDP’s Bwanika, who has lately upped his public attacks on Dr Besigye, said: “Our expectation from People’s Government is that Col Kizza Besigye should accept [that] Kyagulanyi is the candidate.
We have no other way to work, except to have Kyagulanyi as the [joint Opposition] candidate. Anything else, we are not interested.”
During the release of a press statement from the Besigye – Bobi wine alliance on wednesday, Nambooze said “As we have always stated, our main aim is to oust (president) Museveni even before 2021.
However, if the struggle takes us till then, then we shall choose one person from amongst us to go in one force. For now we are fighting for the freedom Mr Museveni has denied us. That is why we are not tackling that question as of now.
Besigye has been a presidential candidate since 2001 and surprisingly none of these political figures (Besigye and Bobi wine) is ready to leave the race for the other. That only means that Bobi wine might end up becoming Besigye ‘s underdog or else this will not last long.
Political alliances in Uganda ahead of general elections are not new. We have written detailed articles on their failures in the past. We are yet to see any sign whether these alliances will be any different.
Political posterity is one of the major pitfalls for opposition politics in Uganda and actions such as bickering among top figures is expected to rock this latest coalition and test its mantle to the core.