Leader of Opposition (Uganda)

The Leader of Opposition (LOP) in Uganda is the title bestowed upon the elected leader of the largest political party not within the ruling government. The Leader of Opposition appoints and heads an alternative Shadow Cabinet whose duty is to challenge and influence government legislation on the floor of Parliament The current Leader of Opposition and first Ugandan female to hold the position is Hon. Winnie Kiiza of the Forum for Democratic Change. The Opposition in Uganda is made up of members from Forum for Democratic Change, Democratic Party, Uganda People's Congress, Congress Party and JEEMA.

After Uganda had been colonised in 1894 as a British Protectorate, the British rulers introduced the Legislative Council (Legco) in 1921, whose overall mission was to enact appropriate laws for the Protectorate. However it was not until 1945 that the first 3 indigenous Ugandans were allowed to sit in the Legco. When the struggle for independence intensified in the early 1950s, an opposition side in the Legco began to emerge.

The year 1958 saw two important milestones emerge in Uganda's political history. That is when the first direct elections to the Legco were held and the position of "Leader of Opposition" formally created in the same institution. The first Leader of Opposition was Barbara Saben, a Briton who doubled as Mayor of Kampala Municipality at the time. Between 1958-1960, she was deputised by Apollo Milton Obote, who had been elected on the Uganda National Congress (UNC) ticket by the then Lango District Council as its representative to the Legco. The major concerns of the opposition during those years were preparing the country for independence, including putting in place an appropriate national constitution.

In March 1960, Obote became the first president of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) which was born from the merger of the Uganda National Congress (UNC) and the Uganda People's Union (UPU) which had been established in 1959 by some members of the Legco. This event further strengthened Obote's position in national politics. So, after the April 1961 elections which enabled the Legco to be transformed into the "National Assembly" and the Democratic Party (DP) to get into power, Obote became the first Ugandan Leader of Opposition. On 1 March 1962, Ben Kiwanuka, the DP leader became the first Prime Minister of Uganda. Unfortunately, two months later, the DP lost power in the April 1962 elections which Obote's UPC won with the assistance of Kabaka Yekka (KY) Party in Buganda. In May 1962, Obote became the second Prime Minister and the National Assembly was converted into a Parliament. Subsequently, Milton Obote became the first executive President of Uganda from 1966 until 1971.

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