Transition, transformation, and the politics of the future in Uganda

While the framing of the past remains a critical terrain of political discourse in Uganda, competing political visions oriented towards the future have emerged as equally salient as the country undergoes significant social and economic changes. Against the image of gridlock that characterises Ugandan politics after President Yoweri Museveni’s latest controversial re-election in 2021, the aim of this article is to highlight these currents of change and the political narratives of the future that have emerged to address them. We address these changes in three categories: the ways in which the NRM regime has re-embraced a securitised developmentalism, the demographic and economic changes that in some ways condition and force these shifts, and the changes to presidential politics relating to Museveni’s succession on both the NRM and opposition sides.