Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) have declared that they will not field a presidential flag bearer in the 2021 General Election.
Mr Akena said he opted to run for the Lira East Municipality parliamentary seat instead of contesting for the country’s top seat.
While speaking to Daily Monitor yesterday, he said top party officials were involved in making the decision. “This is not a new position. We have discussed at different levels and we continue to discuss it,” he said.
He cited Article 13 of the UPC Constitution which he said provides that the party president elected by the delegates conference becomes the party flag bearer in a general election.
Mr Akena, who leads on of the factions, was elected unopposed on August 1 at a delegates conference which has since been contested by other UPC members as illegal.
This becomes the second time in a row UPC does not take a shot at the presidency. Mr Akena also declined to run for presidency in the 2016 General Election and the party rallied behind former Prime Minister in government, Amama Mbabazi, under The Democratic Alliance election taskforce.
The last time UPC fielded a presidential candidate was in 2011 elections under the then party president, Mr Olara Otunnu.
Mr Akena said Opposition political parties need to prioritise where they can invest and avoid going into elections unguided. He cited how the fight to block the amendment and removal of the presidential age limit clause in the national Constitution failed because the Opposition could not raise one-third of the numbers required in the House to defeat the motion.
“This is about 150 Members of Parliament. The whole combined Opposition did not make even 70… You need the numbers in Parliament,” he said while defending his decision not to contest for the presidency.
He said UPC will focus on strengthening its grassroots structures and increasing representation at local government and parliamentary levels.
Mr Akena denied that UPC has diminished its ambitions of taking over the highest office in the country.
However, Mr Dennis Enap, who contested for UPC presidency, disagreed with Mr Akena. He said by not fielding a presidential candidate, the party risks losing many of its members.
“Whom will the party members vote? Members will be torn between Museveni, Bobi Wine… because of not having a candidate for presidency. The party risks losing its membership because of affiliations to other presidential candidates,” Mr Enap said.
He also dismissed Mr Akena’s claim of focusing on building the party from the grass roots.
“The party not fielding a presidential candidate has political effects on its strength of mobilisation and our performance in areas outside Akena’s constituency will be poor,” he said.