Opposition Boycotts Salim Saleh’s Consociational Democracy Talks In Nakaseke

Major opposition parties in Uganda boycotted a high-level consultative meeting convened by retired General Caleb Akandwanaho, widely known as Salim Saleh, at his Kirema Heritage Farm in Nakaseke District on 13 November 2026. The gathering was intended as a trust-building session to advance the proposed Consociational Democracy Agreement (CDA), a framework promoted by Saleh and historian Professor Ogenga Otunnu.

The proposal seeks to address longstanding political, ethnic, regional and socio-economic divisions through structured power-sharing, inclusive decision-making and a five-year national process involving political parties, civil society, religious leaders, cultural institutions and ordinary citizens.

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and the National Unity Platform (NUP), two of the country’s leading opposition parties, declined to attend. FDC president Patrick Oboi Amuriat explained that the decision followed an emergency senior management meeting. The party had previously outlined clear preconditions for any meaningful dialogue: a well-crafted agenda, a neutral convenor, clearly defined participants, a neutral venue and an independent guarantor of outcomes.

Inviting parties to Saleh’s private farm, Amuriat argued, failed the neutrality test. He contrasted this with an earlier Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) and National Consultative Forum (NCF) meeting held in a hotel in Jinja, which all sides regarded as acceptable. The FDC also noted that internal consultations on the CDA proposal, agreed upon at the Jinja retreat, were still ongoing and that a formal report-back session under neutral conditions had been expected.

NUP Secretary General David Lewis Rubongoya confirmed that his party would not participate, citing its longstanding position of non-membership in IPOD. The party had already communicated its stance to the organisers. Other opposition voices, including figures associated with the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) linked to detained veteran politician Dr Kizza Besigye, have previously set their own conditions, emphasising the need for an independently convened process free from the direct influence of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) or members of the presidential family.

Despite the absence of FDC and NUP, representatives from parties under IPOD and the NCF proceeded with the meeting. In a joint statement issued the same day by NCF Chairman Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi, IPOD Council Chairman Gerald Blacks Siranda and Professor Otunnu, participants agreed to integrate the CDA into the broader Uganda National Dialogue (UND) framework.

The UND was established in December 2018 under the authority of President Yoweri Museveni and is chaired by former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda. The attendees described the integration as a way to create a more inclusive national platform for political reconciliation, socio-economic transformation and cohesion.

Saleh, who serves as Chief Coordinator of Operation Wealth Creation and is President Museveni’s younger brother, has in recent months engaged various political actors, including reportedly reconnecting with Besigye. Proponents of the consociational model argue that Uganda’s history of polarisation requires mechanisms such as grand coalitions, proportional representation, mutual veto rights and segmental autonomy, adapted to local realities and linked to community-level grievances rather than elite bargains alone.

Critics, however, remain wary of the process’s impartiality, the choice of venue and the risk that any agreement could be perceived as reinforcing rather than reforming existing power structures.

The Nakaseke meeting therefore produced a partial advance for the dialogue initiative while underscoring the deep mistrust that continues to hinder broader participation. Whether the integration into the UND framework can overcome these reservations and draw in the major boycotting parties will shape the next phase of Uganda’s political reconciliation efforts.