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With the next general elections less than two years away, Ugandan opposition party Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) is setting its stage for the upcoming polls with mobilisation at the grassroots.

On Friday, the party's hierarchy led by Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu addressed a press conference in Hoima city and announced that they have kickstarted mobilization at the lower level.

Flanked by fellow top party leaders Winfred Kiiza and Kassiano Wadri, Muntu said ANT is committed to participating in elective politics.

The party began its mobilization exercise with Bunyangabu district in the Rwenzori region and that they are now covering Hoima district.

“We are mobilizing our people in every sub-county and this exercise will cover the entire part of the country,” said Muntu.

"In the [2021] general elections, we didn’t have time to carry out proper mobilization, but now we have all the time to reach out to our people and carry out mobilization for the party."

The former army commander previously rose to the helm of opposition party Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), before parting ways to launch ANT in May 2019.

Less than 24 months later, he stood for the presidency as ANT's candidate to challenge incumbent President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in an election that featured five political parties and six independent candidates.

Eventually, Muntu finished fourth in an election won by Museveni with 58.38% of the vote.

ANT is now set to again throw its hat into the political ring.

Addressing reporters on Friday, Muntu also talked about internal wrangles within especially opposition political parties.

He said he believes any negotiations with the government in power would only lead to opposition parties being co-opted into the existing system, thereby compromising their core values.

He took a swipe at the ruling government, accusing it of engaging in such acts as arbitrary arrests.

On her part, former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Kiiza said they are already preparing for the upcoming general elections.

She asked the people of Bunyoro sub-region to embrace the party's ideology and rally behind it.

Wadri, a former MP for Arua municipality, said that in Hoima, they will only reach out to eight sub-counties and the rest will be covered in the next round.

“We have so far carried out mobilization in 30 sub-counties but we are still moving next week. 

"We shall be in West Nile for the same activities," he said.