The former self-styled pastor, activist and sports journalist, Joseph Kabuleta, is the president of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party. According to Kabuleta, 53, NEED will be launched on July 23, 2025, after receiving its registration certificate from the Electoral Commission last month.

In the 2021 general election, when he stood as an independent presidential candidate, Kabuleta vowed to use God’s power to bring about political and economic change in Uganda, coming from the world of evangelism.

Kabuleta, aka Joe Kabs, worked at the Crusader newspaper as a sports commentator in 1997, and when it folded in 1999, he joined New Vision, where he became one of the most recognised sports analysts in the country.

“One thing that made me stand out is my strength of opinion. When I have an opinion, I put it out, regardless of what others think,” he is quoted as having said in one media interview. Between 2003 and 2007, Kabuleta headed the Uganda Sports Press Association.

Announces second attempt

Kabuleta, during a media briefing in Kampala on Monday (July 14, 2025), announced that he will contest in the 2026 presidential elections, marking his second attempt at the country’s top office.

“I am going to stand for president. Of course, I stood in 2021 just to test the waters. The purpose of all of it is this one (the 2026 election). Anything I did there (in the 2021 campaigns) was for this reason,” he said.

“We barely caused a ripple five years ago, but now we are going to cause an absolute splash, if not a tsunami, because the time is right and I can see everything is cooking in my favour,” said Kabuleta, who garnered 44,300 votes (0.44%) of the total votes cast in the 2021 presidential election as an independent candidate.

The former self-styled pastor, activist and sports journalist centred his 2021 campaign on financial liberation.

“If you want to have money in your wallet, vote for me. Money in people’s pockets is the reason I am standing for president of this country,” he said then.

The 2021 presidential race featured 11 candidates. President Yoweri Museveni of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party emerged the winner with 5,851,037 votes (58.64%), followed by Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform (NUP), who secured 3,475,298 votes (34.83%).

Both Museveni and Kyagulanyi have already declared their intention to run again.

According to the Electoral Commission roadmap, the next general election will begin on January 12 and conclude on February 9, 2026. Nomination of candidates for presidential, parliamentary and local government seats began in June and ends in October 2025.

Brief profile

He went to Buganda Road Primary School and later joined Namilyango College for O and A-level, completing in 1991.

He then pursued a diploma in civil engineering from Uganda Technical College in Mbale. He holds a degree in Mass Communication from Makerere University. The former pastor of Watchman Ministries, Uganda, wrote and spoke about the violence, corruption, sectarianism, propaganda, deceit and manipulation in government in the run-up to the 2021 general election.