The Democratic Party (DP) has announced it will hold the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Mbarara, Western Uganda, to redirect the party, review its performance, ensure team building, engage members, induct the party’s newly elected members, and chart the way forward.
According to Gerald Siranda, the party Secretary General, who is also constitutionally mandated to call all party meetings, the Conference will be held from September 10th to 12th, 2026.
“All 52 National Executive Committee (NEC) members will attend the meeting, and we have also invited the party Members of Parliament. We shall approve our annual strategic plan, and we also expect our party leader, Norbert Mao, to address us because we believe that he understands the party and where it should be,” Siranda said.
Siranda further revealed that the party leadership is also set to engage the leaders from Masaka on how to rebuild the party, stating that they realised that people still have passion for the party, which was revealed in the just-concluded local council one elections where the party came second to the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in terms of performance.
While addressing the journalists on Tuesday, September 1st, 2026, at the party headquarters at Balintuma Road in Kampala, Siranda also commented on the ongoing internal squabbles in the party, encouraging party members to hold their ground and disregard what he termed malice from some party Members who have been parallel to the current party leadership.
According to media reports, DP has since faced battles attributed to power struggles within the top leadership, which has seen some members separating from the mother party, forming pressure groups such as DP at heart, which is anchored on restoring the former glory of the party.
The leaders of these pressure groups have since accused the DP party President, Norbert Mao of being a traitor after he allegedly abandoned the true opposition principles of the party, especially when he decided to share the bed with the ruling NRM, something that revealed his self-seeking character.
However, Siranda revealed that the forthcoming National Executive Committee meeting will focus on addressing such conflicts and misunderstandings to prepare the party and execute its mandate of delivering change of power to its supporters and Uganda at large.
Meanwhile, responding to the accusations from the leaders of the pressure groups, Mao said that none of them knows how he started and they should not interest themselves in knowing where he is going and how he will end because it’s only God who knows where he is going and how his end will be.
