By Spy Uganda
The deep-seated factional wrangles within the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) have finally boiled over into a full-blown electoral crisis after the Electoral Commission (EC) formally declined to recognise any of the three rival presidential hopefuls emerging from the party.
In a hard-hitting letter dated 20th September 2025 and copied to four separate legal teams, the EC categorically rebuffed multiple correspondences from competing camps—fronted by Denis Adim Enap, Hon. Jimmy James Akena, Joseph Pinytek Ochieno and Peter Walubiri Mukidi—each claiming legitimate leadership of the party and demanding to be declared flag bearer for the 2026 presidential elections.
The Commission’s missive, addressed to the UPC Secretary General and their respective lawyers at KATS Advocates, J Byamukama & Co. Advocates, and Eland Advocates, underscores that the raging internal disputes have rendered it impossible for the national electoral body to determine a duly mandated presidential candidate. “The above refers,” the letter tersely notes, effectively freezing the party’s presidential bid until a single, legally recognised leader emerges.
UPC, whose headquarters sit on Jinja Road in Kampala, has been convulsed by leadership schisms since the controversial reign of Jimmy Akena, with rival factions accusing each other of constitutional violations and illegitimate appointments. Despite repeated calls for reconciliation, the competing aspirants have instead escalated the confrontation through courts and endless petitions to the EC.
With nominations for the 2026 race fast approaching, analysts warn that the Commission’s stance now places the country’s oldest political party on the brink of electoral irrelevance. Unless UPC urgently resolves its leadership puzzle and communicates a unified position, it risks exclusion from the presidential ballot altogether—a humiliating setback for a party once synonymous with Uganda’s independence struggle.
As of press time, none of the feuding camps had publicly conceded, setting the stage for an intensified legal showdown even as the EC maintains a firm “hands-off” posture until an authoritative resolution is presented.
