On July 2, 2025, the Democratic Front (DF) President, Mathias Mpuuga, flanked by some members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), addressed a press conference at the DF headquarters in Namirembe.
In his multi-faceted address, Mpuuga touched on several key issues that have been at the forefront of the party’s agenda since its launch.
Explore the full text to learn more about the DF’s plans and initiatives.
- Appreciating the Media Fraternity
I would lie to use this platform to thank you the media for bringing to bareany doubt about what the DF is capable of and clarifying to the country what it is not because before our inaugural conference in Masaka, and subsequent launch of the party, there was a lot of misrepresentation of course on the larger part deliberate misrepresenting the DF.
Misrepresenting the DF was in various spaces, but I think the events in Masaka gave us the opportunity to render clarity to any doubting Thomas’s about what we are. I want to thank you for your presence for the two days in Masaka.
Two days of making history days of making history because for a party barely 50 days of existence to pull off conferences of that magnitude is something we thank God for. To us who work in the DF, there was no accident in Masaka. That was an outcome of deliberate step-by-step work, and we want to stand here and assure the country that our journey will be a journey of intentionally well-calculated and thought-out activities intended to build this young platform and turn it into a world issue.
And with this team and others not here, we will be able to change the fortunes of our politics and change the face of this country in terms of leadership. So, I want to thank everybody who supported us through the events in Masaka, and to us, Masaka was just the beginning of so many good times ahead of us.
If anybody thought that, the DF is a footnote in Uganda’s politics, so now they have to go back and edit their prejudicial presumptions about the DF. Definitely, we still see a lot of misinformation about us, but if you are not speaking about the DF, what is there to speak about?
I think whoever is misinforming the world about us, you are forgivable, but increasingly as we progress, you will be able to edit your pages. Otherwise, you are a laggard and odd man out because the talks about the DF are all over the world to see.
Having said that, and thanked everybody who supported and, of course, extended a bit of time on those who were undermining our efforts, we are here also to communicate the following few issues, on behalf of the DF.
- Unfilled Positions On DF NEC
Initially, to confirm what the Secretary General communicated in Masaka that on the National Executive Committee (NEC), there are unfilled positions. We intend to fill them in the coming weeks after adequate consultations have been made, because our platform is a consultative platform, as it is composed of multiple stakeholders.
Therefore, any position will be filled as a consequence of a consensus after consultations. So, anything out there that has been agitated that there are positions not filled, it is not intentional, but it is purposeful to ensure every position to be filled is consequential and being occupied by a serious person to be part of this platform, to be a leader in the platform, and will be able to perform a role that we expect of them.
On Friday this week, on this ground, we shall hold a swearing-in ceremony for the National Executive Committee (NEC). So, I humbly invite you in earnest at 10 o’clock…that ceremony is not a ritual, it is constitutional, it is a statutory obligation, and therefore, we shall undertake it because the persons who will swear in on that day, are going to be undertaking a national duty and therefore they must as a matter of necessity and law, to take a public oath. They will be pledging to do the duty, which they are obligated to undertake.
To all members of NEC not here this morning, they are duly informed. Of course, the secretariat has duly communicated to these members to attend the ceremony on Friday at 10 O’clock on this ground.
- Membership Recruitment Drive
Thirdly, is that we have started as a young party to roll out a membership recruitment drive, and we clarified in Masaka, and we are here to verify again on the nature of membership that you can be part of as a member of DF. The DF membership is classified, and the classification is not intended to create a party of classes, but instead, to create the levels of support for the party because we are building a mass party.
A mass party supported by citizens because we are not going to grow potatoes and maize to support the party. The party will be supported to stand and take its activities vide the support of its legitimate members. The party can have voters, the party can have supporters, the party can have its members, and it is the members who can support the party’s activities.
- Membership Categories
Therefore, the DF has a category of ordinary members. Those members will be able to be given a membership card classified as a membership of Shs2000 annually to support the activities of the party.
Secondly, you have a bronze membership. A bronze member will be able to pay Shs5,000 monthly to support the party, and will get a bronze card.
Thirdly, you will be a silver member. We call those sustaining members who pay monthly. A silver member will subscribe for Shs10,000 monthly to sustain the party, and you will get the silver membership card. I exhibited these cards in the last presser; they are plastic cards, not paper cards at all levels, including the ordinary members.
The fourth category will be golden members. A golden member subscribes by paying and supporting the party with a monthly subscription of Shs50,000 and will get a golden card as a sustaining member.
Fifth, we will have a platinum sustaining member. A platinum sustaining member sustains the party with Shs1M and above annually, and then you will be a platinum party-sustaining member.
On this occasion, I would like to earnestly thank already members who have already subscribed. We have not issued any cards, but people have already subscribed by filling out forms because these are plastic cards, and they cannot be printed in earnest. You fill a form with your particulars, then we present them to suppliers of these cards where particulars are inscribed, and therefore, a card is issued.
We would like to thank those who have already filled out forms, and the forms are available at the (DF) headquarters, at our regional offices, so far confirmed at Kampala here in Namirembe, in Masaka, in Jinja, in Soroti, and other places. I think the Secretary General will be able to clarify on the opened offices so far, where one can go and fill forms to sustain the party that far.
We hope and we are going to roll out a membership drive to mobilize members, we call rolling branches. The branch in the constitution of the party (DF) begins at the constituency. However, the Delegates’ conference we ended at Masaka allowed the NEC to come up with other methods of expanding the party.
- DF Rolling Branches
One of the latest innovations of the National Executive Committee is to create what we call rolling branches. These are intended to recruit and enlist membership from people who work in clusters; the professionals, the informal sector, for example, if you are in a garage or garages in one place, and you have 100 members, you can constitute a DF branch, and you will be given a branch number.
If you are professionals, you are lawyers, you are doctors, you are teachers, and you are 100 in number, you form a branch, and we shall give you a branch number and, accordingly, give you a reporting framework on how you are going to elect your leadership.
That is intended to make it easy for members intending to participate and grow this party to participate in further activities. The rest will be rolled out, and the details of how and what you do as a branch of 100 DF members shall be provided in the details that the NEC will roll out.
I thought that it should be clarified that this is a party of citizens, it is a mass party, and therefore, it is our obligation to make it easy, possible, and feasible for citizens to participate in the activities of this party.
- Nomination of Intending Candidates
The issue relating to the nomination of intending candidates, I will invite later on, the Secretary General or the Chairperson Electoral Commission to clarify on what is going on, and how much each pays. I have seen misrepresentation of the DF. You see, the DF is sweet. Whoever has nothing to do writes about the DF, and we enjoy it.
Please be informed out there, that we enjoy the fact that we are occupying and giving you business, but I will ask our team leaders here to come and clarify because already, we have people who have applied for positions as candidates and therefore, we need a very clear communication of what we need to come and find at the DF.
I want to clarify that we have not gazetted any position to anybody or for anyone. All elective positions are available, and the beauty about the DF constitution is that even a presidential candidate position is open. Being president (of the DF) does not make you an automatic presidential candidate.
Every registered member of the party has a chance at becoming a presidential candidate. So, we do not have any preserved position because we do not have privileged persons in the DF. So, all of you out there, please be informed that you have a chance at becoming the flag bearer of DF in any position.
Let me also inform you that we shall have our first open-air, broad national meeting as the DF in Kampala on July 18, 2025. It will be the first time to speak to the country after the launch of the party, and we shall be rolling out these public meetings in the coming weeks.
We shall be in Kampala, the venue will be communicated in due course, and we shall be in Jinja on August 1, 2025. Those two have been confirmed. We shall be coming to Jinja to communicate with the people of Busoga after the DF launch.
- DF Commitment To Work With Others
My last communication to the citizens is that on behalf of the DF, I am here to reecho, and recommit on behalf of the party our readiness and preparedness to work with all forces of change in this country. We are ready; we are prepared to listen, even to be advised, to participate as the DF in undertakings jointly by the opposition to see a common charge at change.
We recommit, and like we said in Masaka, there are simply so many challenges that we need to confront jointly as the opposition, and no single platform in the opposition should step out there and wiseacre that they are ready to go it alone.
That will be a serious misrepresentation of reality. At the DF, we work realistically, we speak realistically, we have a deep understating of the challenges around us, and therefore, we have our proposals we shall pass on to our colleagues on the other platforms, but our readiness is hereby exhibited and communicated and if our colleagues believe so, then we are ready to move to the centre to be able to inform the next activities.
We thank you more sincerely,
For God and My Country.
