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So, the admonished co-operation appears to be taking shape and becoming more binding with its credibility boosted by Mushega’s appearance at the first IPC conference at Ridar Hotel, Seeta last week. It was the first indication that the NRA bush war veteran had finally abandoned his seat on the fence to plunge into the deep end of the struggle to stop President Museveni’s “president for life” project.
“DP wants to work with new parties [and] we have co-operated on many issues before. Give us an opportunity to study the protocol content, reach consensus at all levels of party structures and we shall be in the co-operation,” said Ssebaana.

During the Seeta conference, several opposition officials gathered to discuss the intricacies of the ‘new’ coalition even as the DP sorts out its internal disagreements before the party appends its signature onto the deal.
From party leaders, MPs, opposition members to “sympathisers” like Mushega, the tone for an early campaign agenda looked already set.
“Politics in Uganda is militalised and commercialised by NRM and this co-operation is poised to change this,” said Peter Walubiri, Secretary General of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).

Under the theme “Co-operating to build people-centered democracy”, all the five party presidents—including Ssebaana stressed the need to harness the synergies and also educate the public about it.
 
“Co-operation in FDC is natural, and we [FDC] think it’s a matter of course for the purpose of ensuring survival as political parties…the only hurdle is to carry out civic education about this cooperation,” said Dr. Kizza Besigye, the President of FDC (the Forum for Democratic Change).
However, according to Ssebaana who attended the conference as an “observer,” this co-operation is not something natural, for it demands consultation of party members and a solicitous study of the entire protocol to get the electorate involved.

So, while some people including members of the co-operating political parties seem to have “admonished the protocol and the very concept of co-operation,” as Miria Kalule Obote, the President of UPC and Chairperson of IPC put it, the spirit of the Seeta debate looked healthy.
But how healthy was it? With Conservative Party’s Ken Lukyamuzi stressing contest of government policies, JEEMA’s Kibirige Mayanja emphasising democracy and Besigye calling for an urgent electoral alliance strategy, it was clear that parties need a strategy to accommodate common grounds and aspirations. And co-operation is one of the ways to achieve this.

“People fear electoral alliances but it’s a strategy that we must develop deliberately, for it is understanding among ourselves that will remove a dictatorship in our country,” said Besigye.
However, apart from ensuring an informed population, party heads also noticed the need for an impartial Electoral Commission (EC) that enjoys security of tenure. “We need to change the current law—through constitutional means—which gives the President the mandate to appoint the EC officials. This means he [the President] can also sack them at will, they need to have a security of tenure like judges,” said Besigye.

Article 60 (1), of the Constitution of Uganda gives the President mandate to appoint the EC officials.
Support
Among other problems that have dogged political parties’ attention to focus on 2011 has been lack of funds—to carry out mobilisation, recruitment and training. But ever since the coalition deal was signed, several sponsors—mainly from Sweden—have come up to support the alliance.
 
“We work for a responsible opposition and we aim at promoting a friendlier relationship between government and opposition in Uganda like it is in Sweden,” said Rasmus Rasmusson, the Head of the Swedish delegation that attended the conference.