Mathias Mpuuga, president of the Democratic Front, has broken his silence following Uganda's disputed general election, declaring he has "no luxury to mourn" despite what he describes as a devastating and irregular electoral exercise.
Speaking on NBS Morning Breeze on Tuesday morning, Mpuuga struck a tone of urgency and introspection, insisting that both he and the broader opposition must move swiftly from shock to strategy.
"As a leader in the opposition, I do not have the luxury to sit and weep about what happened," he said. "I have a family, a community, a party, and colleagues who look to me for leadership. You cry about what happens, yes but you must pick up the pieces, for your own good and for the good of those who depend on you."
The Democratic Front, a relatively new political outfit, failed to secure a single parliamentary seat a result critics described as humiliating. But Mpuuga rejects the premise that the vote constituted a credible electoral exercise.
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"The question of the day is not whether the opposition performed poorly," he argued. "The question is: was there an election to judge us by? Apart from printing ballot papers and announcing results, was that exercise close to an election?"
Mpuuga maintains the process lacked transparency, consistency, and fairness.
He accuses electoral authorities of changing rules midstream and overseeing what he termed an "opaque system" that denied citizens a genuine opportunity to express their aspirations. He called for national "sober reflection" on the country's electoral framework.
"What we are doing to our country is not good," he said. "Our laws on elections must be revisited. The entire framework must be rethought. You cannot keep changing the rules of the game in the middle of the game and then invite participants to accept the outcome."
Turning inward, Mpuuga described Uganda's opposition as fractured, divided into three strands each struggling with its own limitations. The first seeks winner-takes-all power but lacks cohesion. "They form today and collapse tomorrow," he said.
The second prioritizes noise over strategy. The third, which he considers most principled, advocates distributed power to reflect Uganda's diverse cultural and religious makeup, but lacks sufficient traction.
"Uganda is a melting pot," Mpuuga said. "There must be a framework upon which resources are shared across communities. Politics must be about distribution not appropriation."
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Although he did not name the ruling National Resistance Movement in detail, Mpuuga suggested the establishment exploits opposition weaknesses, co-opting actors or capitalizing on disunity.
"If someone is desperate to join the dining table for crumbs, can you blame the one offering the crumbs?" he asked.
Reports of overtures from ruling party figures to opposition members have fueled speculation about further fragmentation. But Mpuuga insists the real work lies in reconstructing a coherent opposition vision.
"All those options must be brought onto the table. The opposition must return to the drawing board and get a uniform brand," he said. He also criticized "political noise" that dominated the campaign season.
"An authentic opposition must speak positively and offer organized alternatives. The last election was devoid of serious issues. It became about noise," he said.
Rejecting confrontational, slogan-driven approaches, Mpuuga said: "You cannot invite me into drama. Seriousness must be reflected in the approach you take. If you are different from the ruling party, then your methods must also be different."
He emphasized personal introspection as essential for collective recovery. "Elections require self-introspection first. You gather the energy and courage to look at your colleagues. Then you move on," he said.
Mpuuga's remarks underscore a deeper crisis within opposition ranks extending beyond seat counts into questions of identity, strategy, and credibility. Whether the Democratic Front can rebuild from a zero-seat outcome remains uncertain. But its leader frames the setback as evidence of systemic failure.
"We must sober up as a people," he concluded. "If we keep doing the same things we have been doing all these years, we can only predict the next outcome. And it will not be different."
