TOP STORY: NUP Cracks Under Pressure, Joins IPOD to Secure Share of Shs45 Billion Political Parties Fund
KAMPALA —
In a dramatic policy reversal, the National Unity Platform (NUP) has officially agreed to fully participate in the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD), ending its years-long boycott as Uganda edges closer to the 2026 general elections.
The move by the Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine)-led party comes just in time to qualify for a share of the Shs45 billion that political parties represented in Parliament will be dividing up — a fund disbursement tied to IPOD participation.
NUP, whose leaders previously condemned IPOD as a puppet entity lacking legal foundation, now says it is willing to engage because the platform has since been formalized under an Act of Parliament, unlike the earlier version, which it dismissed as “nothing more than an NGO.”
Ironically, the same party had earlier ordered its MPs to walk out when MP Faith Nakut tabled the amendment that legally restructured IPOD — and also criticized her on record. That restructuring is now the very basis for their new position.
Party spokesperson Joel Ssenyonyi, seemingly confident that public memory is short, claims this legal change is the only reason NUP stayed away. He now insists NUP has “never been opposed to dialogue” and views IPOD as a legitimate platform for raising key issues, including the detention of several political supporters, among them Eddie Mutwe, Gaddafi Mugumya, and Bobi Yanga.
The party also sees value in contributing to the National Consultative Forum (NCF) — another multi-party platform — where NUP’s Benjamin Katana currently serves as deputy chairperson.
In what would be a stunning visual moment for Ugandan politics, Kyagulanyi is no longer ruling out attending IPOD summits — a move that could place him side-by-side in photographs with President Yoweri Museveni, who chairs the forum.
NUP’s representatives say they will push for key democratic reforms during IPOD deliberations, including enforcement of constitutional rights to free assembly and political rallies, which the party argues have been routinely violated.
Still, the timing and sudden U-turn have drawn criticism. Political observers note that this shift comes without any prior concessions from Museveni, leading many to interpret NUP’s move as being motivated more by financial survival than principle.
“They’ve joined the ‘eating table’ they once condemned — and not for reform, but to avoid missing out on Shs45 billion,” one political analyst noted.
NUP now faces a growing PR crisis, as critics accuse the party of selling out and abandoning its hardline opposition stance in exchange for financial gain. The decision is expected to provoke backlash from sections of its support base that had embraced its earlier rejection of state-linked political platforms.
The photo of Museveni and Kyagulanyi seated at the same table may now be just a summit away — a symbolic moment that could redefine Uganda’s opposition narrative heading into the 2026 elections.
