Retired Colonel Dr. Kizza Besigye, a veteran opposition figure and four-time presidential candidate will not contest for any elective position in the newly formed People’s Front for Freedom (PFF). Besigye, who is currently detained at Luzira Prison on treason charges has assumed a non-elective role as Chair of the Council of Eminent Persons, the party’s highest advisory organ.
The development was confirmed during the inaugural PFF Delegates Conference and official launch, where Besigye was recognized as the chief guest in absentia. Party officials clarified that his new role disqualifies him from running for any internal elective office, emphasizing the Council’s responsibility in offering strategic guidance and ideological oversight.
At the launch, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago was elected Chairperson of the People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), with four deputies, including new member Dr. Lulume Bayiga from Democratic (DP) and former LoP Betty Aol Ochan. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has taken the role of the Secretary General for the party.
Therefore, Erias Lukwago will take on the mantle to contest against President Museveni Kaguta of the National Resistance Movement and other opposition candidates.
Besigye is currently facing serious treason charges over allegations that he and co-accused Haji Obed Lutale and Capt. Denis Oola conspired to overthrow the Ugandan government. The trio was formally charged on February 21, 2025, following their arrest a day earlier, and are alleged to have engaged in clandestine operations both within Uganda and internationally.
According to the charge sheet, the accused held covert physical and virtual meetings in Geneva, Athens, Nairobi, and Kampala between 2023 and November 2024, during which they reportedly coordinated plans to remove the Ugandan government through unconstitutional means. Authorities further claim that the group facilitated the movement of Ugandan citizens to Kisumu, Kenya, where recruits were allegedly trained in military tactics and intelligence-gathering.
Investigators allege the group also sought financial, military, and logistical support to advance their cause. In addition to treason, the government has filed an alternative charge of misprision of treason, a lesser offense involving failure to report knowledge of a treasonable act to authorities.
Despite his legal troubles, Besigye’s influence remains central to the direction of the PFF. His elevation to the Council of Eminent Persons cements his continued role as a key ideological figure in Uganda’s opposition landscape, albeit now from an advisory rather than a frontline political position.
The PFF leadership maintains that the party is committed to democratic change through peaceful means even as its top founder faces prosecution in one of the country’s most politically charged trials in recent years.
