Six years of defiance: the rise and test of NUP

What the report says

The Independent Uganda reports that the National Unity Platform (NUP), now six years old, has grown from the People Power movement around Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine, into Uganda’s leading opposition party. The analysis traces the party’s roots to the post-2017 “Togikwatako” campaign against removal of the presidential age limit, and says Kyagulanyi and allies including David Lewis Rubongoya and Joel Ssenyonyi adopted and renamed a little-known party in July 2020 to create NUP.

According to the report, NUP’s emergence was powered by Uganda’s youthful demographics and frustration with unemployment, living costs, public services and established politics. The party quickly faced severe tests: Bobi Wine’s November 2020 arrest in Luuka over alleged COVID-19 campaign breaches was followed by protests and a deadly security crackdown. Official figures cited in the article put the death toll above 50, while opposition and rights groups said it was higher.

The Independent says NUP’s 2021 election performance reshaped opposition politics: Bobi Wine was officially credited with about 3.5 million votes, or roughly 35%, and the party won 59 parliamentary seats despite being newly formed. The report also notes defections from the Democratic Party and NUP’s eclipse of the Forum for Democratic Change as the main parliamentary opposition force.

The article frames NUP’s rise as inseparable from sustained pressure, including reported arrests, disappearances, torture allegations, raids and prosecutions in civilian and military courts. NUP secretary general Rubongoya told The Independent that resilience, grassroots support and fundraising have kept the party going. The report says the party’s move to a new Kavule headquarters in late 2023 symbolised an effort to become a lasting political institution.