2026 polls: Mpuuga, JEEMA hold talks on reforms

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The Democratic Alliance pressure group leader and Nyendo-Mukungwe Division MP, Mathias Mpuuga, has held talks with the Justice Forum (JEEMA) party over what he called durable reforms, transition and reconciliation.

“Today, we set out on our commitment to interact with various stakeholders in the public space to evolve a framework for durable reforms, transition and reconciliation,” he said on Wednesday (January 15) after meeting JEEMA leaders at their headquarters in Kampala.

“The JEEMA party received us today and had very strong and positive engagements that will culminate into a broad consensus for the future of our country,” he added on X, formerly Twitter.

Mathias Mpuuga, and other MPs during talks with the Justice Forum (JEEMA) party over what he called durable reforms, transition and reconciliation. (Courtesy photo)

(Courtesy photo)

He was accompanied by National Unity Platform (NUP) party MPs, Juliet Kakande (Masaka City Woman MP), Abed Bwanika (Kimaanya-Kabonera Division) and Micheal Kakembo (Entebbe Municipality).

Former independent presidential candidate, Samuel Mukaaku, was also among Mpuuga’s delegation.

When he was unveiled as the pressure group leader on December 6, 2024, Mpuuga said there is time for everything and in politics, timing is very important.

“I have been thinking through this moment and consulted several people,” the immediate former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament said.

He vowed to save his NUP party from the political turbulence it is experiencing ahead of the 2026 general elections.

“We have our friends we have left at Kavule [NUP headquarters in Kampala]. They have their issues; we have Uganda to save. They will save themselves and if they fail to save themselves, we shall save them,” he said.

This was during a gathering of a faction of NUP and that of the Democratic Party (DP) bloc at Malibu Gardens in Kampala.

Mpuuga argued that they have missed “a lot of opportunities and time backbiting and backstabbing each other”.

“I’m here to invite you to join me, My Leader team, the DP bloc and the whole Alliance into one single file of struggling Ugandans for a better country,” he said.

He also said that they don’t need to be the closest of friends to work together.

“We have what binds us being Ugandans and people who have similar dreams and are going far. And that is enough. I never gave myself the brain to think. God gave me a brain to think and I have to use it for the benefit of the common good,” he told the gathering.

According to the Electoral Commission, the next general elections will take place on January 12 and February 9, 2026, but candidates for presidential, parliamentary and local government seats will be nominated from June to October 2025.