By Aggrey BabaThere is a new political settlement being pushed onto Uganda’s political setting following a high-level meeting in Jinja that brought together representatives of virtually all political parties, with President Museveni’s brother, Gen Caleb Akandwanaho (Salim Saleh), and his personal assistant Professor Ogenga Otunnu at the centre of the proposal.The proposal seeks to change how Uganda negotiates political power, addresses historical grievances and accommodates communities that feel excluded from national leadership and opportunities. But it is emerging against a deeply troubled political background in which some of the country’s most influential opposition figures are behind bars, others have fled the country, and political parties continue to accuse the government of shrinking the space for political competition.At the centre of this contradiction are veteran opposition leader Dr Kizza Besigye, who remains in detention facing treason-related charges, and National Unity Platform (NUP) president Robert Kyagulanyi, who is currently outside Uganda over fear for his safety.Other opposition figures whose detention has become part of the growing national debate include NUP deputy spokesperson Alex Waiswa Mufumbiro, Bobi Wine’s civilian bodyguard Edward Ssebuufu/ Eddie Mutwe, Obed Lutaale and Sam Mugumya.The detention of former Kampala Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, also National chairman for PFF has also featured in opposition demands for confidence-building measures ahead of the proposed dialogue.It is this atmosphere of political mistrust, disputed electoral legitimacy, arrests and competing demands for accountability that the proposed Gen Saleh settlement is expected to confront.Indeed, during the Jinja engagement, opposition leaders reportedly demanded the release of political detainees and the safe return of exiled political actors before meaningful national dialogue could take place. They argued that it would be difficult to negotiate national reconciliation while some of the very people whose political interests were being discussed remained behind bars or outside the country.The NRM, however, pushed back against unconditional releases, with its representative, James Tweheyo, maintaining that criminal cases before courts should be handled through the judicial process.That disagreement exposed the difficult ground on which the proposed settlement is being built, where opposition leaders want concrete evidence of political goodwill, while the ruling establishment insists that legal proceedings must take their course.It was against this backdrop that Gen Saleh gave opposition leaders two weeks to return to their respective political parties, consult their members on the proposed arrangement and subsequently return to Jinja for further engagement.The assignment effectively places opposition leaders under pressure to explain to their supporters what is being negotiated, what their parties stand to gain and whether the proposed power-sharing arrangement can address the grievances that have fuelled political disagreements for decades.The proposal itself is contained in a working paper titled Consociational Democracy Agreement: Addressing the Root Causes and Consequences of Sectarianism, Exclusion, Marginalization and Conflicts in Uganda, presented during the two-day political parties’ summit in Jinja on October 15 and 16, 2026.Authored by Gen Saleh and Prof Ogenga Otunnu, the document goes beyond the familiar calls for national dialogue and political reconciliation, further proposing an entirely new framework through which government, political parties, Parliament and grassroots organizations would negotiate, share and implement national political commitments.The General effectively questions whether Uganda’s existing political arrangements have done enough to address the grievances that continue to divide the country.In a critical examination of Uganda’s history of political bargains, the paper revisits the UPC-Kabaka Yekka alliance of the early 1960s, the Uganda National Liberation Front coalition formed after the fall of Idi Amin, and subsequent cooperation arrangements between the NRM and opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Party (DP) and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC).Although acknowledging that some of these arrangements helped create periods of political stability, the document questions their long-term impact, arguing that agreements between top party/political leaders cannot permanently resolve grievances when the communities they claim to represent remain outside the negotiations.The message is that Uganda cannot continue managing political grievances through private understandings between influential politicians and expect the wider population to regard the resulting arrangements as a legitimate national settlement.Instead, the Saleh-Otunnu proposal seeks to establish a National Consociational Council, a coordinating framework through which political leaders, government institutions and grassroots stakeholders would be brought into a common national arrangement.The proposed council would operate through three principal chambers, each assigned a different responsibility in negotiating, scrutinizing and implementing the settlement.The first, the Elite Cooperation Chamber, would bring together government, the NRM, willing opposition political parties and MPs to negotiate national political commitments.But unlike previous arrangements that largely revolved around political leaders, the proposal creates a separate Grassroots and Stakeholders Chamber, bringing religious institutions, traditional and community elders, women’s organizations, labour unions and youth organisations into the process.This chamber would give communities an avenue to table historical grievances, question proposals made by political leaders and scrutinize commitments being negotiated in their name.The third component, the Technical and Implementation Secretariat, would take responsibility for translating negotiated agreements into actual government programmes, budget allocations and implementation timelines.This is one of the most consequential aspects of the proposal. Rather than allowing political agreements to remain declarations of goodwill, Gen Saleh wants commitments reflected in government planning, public expenditure and measurable programmes.The framework would also extend beyond the national political leadership to regional, district and community structures, bringing questions of representation, resource allocation, service delivery and local grievances into the proposed settlement.The paper further proposes independent monitoring, public reporting and safeguards against patronage and conflicts of interest, apparently recognizing that a power-sharing arrangement could easily become another avenue for political reward-sharing if left without accountability.Indeed, the paper carries an important warning for the very political class expected to drive the process, that the proposed settlement could reproduce the exclusion it is intended to eliminate if leaders turn it into another marketplace for distributing positions, favours and public resources among themselves and leaving out the people they claim to represent.That concern is particularly relevant given the country’s history of political cooperation agreements, some of which have triggered internal party disputes over consultation, representation and whether ordinary members ever benefited from decisions made by their top leaders.The proposed framework therefore seeks to make grassroots participation an essential part of the political settlement rather than an afterthought brought in to endorse decisions already reached by powerful individuals.To give the arrangement legal and institutional weight, the paper proposes that the eventual agreement be formally signed, gazetted and incorporated into government policies and institutional structures. It also recommends parliamentary legislation to provide a legal foundation for the arrangement.The two-week consultation period given to opposition leaders is therefore an important early test of the proposed model, despite expiring on Thursday, without the opposition party leaders tabling the paper to their party members for discussion. Their upcoming return to Jinja is expected to provide an opportunity for further engagement after they have consulted their respective political constituencies (in case they happen to). (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).