Labelling the current opposition “a pack of gamblers” embattled Commissioner of Parliament and Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba has announced plans to push for electoral and constitutional reforms ahead of 2026 presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.
To Mpuuga, the former leader of opposition in parliament (LoP), when it comes to discussing democracy and transitions, the alternative government is wanting. As he addressed reporters at Parliament on July 10, Mpuuga expressed worry that such a disorganized opposition would contribute to the chaos of the transition since even if Yoweri Museveni, at the helm for close to four decades, left. In any case, he said, “there is no doubt the NRM or General Museveni will leave power.”
He emphasized that the current opposition, led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), needs to steer efforts for “a working framework that would make the opposition functional beyond rhetoric and posturing” and give it “a common voice” and “transcend colour.”
Onto that organized opposition, Mpuuga wants to add constitutional and electoral reforms as the country gears for the 2026 elections so as “to prevent a worst-case scenario from happening.”
This scenario, Mpuuga explained, would involved Gen Museveni getting reelected or easily fulfilling his “monarchical intentions” by handing over power to any of his family members, most likely first son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba who is now the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) but have expressed interest in succeeding his father.
Among Mpuuga’s proposed reforms is the increasing of the number of youth MPs to about 50 given how that they make a significant chunk of the country’s population, according to partial results from the 2024 census.
Currently, regional youth MPs represent millions of young people as a special interest group in Parliament. National Female Youth MP Phiona Nyamutoro was appointed junior minister in March 2024.
Keying into the concerns of most Ugandans, Mpuuga also wants the size of parliament reduced because as critics are saying, “it is too big for a small economy” like Uganda’s which is even servicing debt, corruption and an extravagant government.
Mpuuga also wants reforms in the decentralization system of government. “We all know and agree that decentralization has failed,” he said. “The last round of activity in Parliament which was composed of rationalization of government agencies was an admission of the failure of the form of governance which is decentralization in part.” (See related reporting on rationalization of government agencies Here).
To execute his planned push for reforms, Mpuuga says that he is building bridges across the political divide. “I have gone out of my way to speak to individual colleagues in parliament, from across the political strata,” he said, adding that he has talked to independents, ruling NRM MPs, and members of the civil society and will continue to seek more views for “a wide-ranging national debate on constitutional and electoral reforms.”
Even as he pushes for reforms, Mpuuga is at loggerheads with his NUP over a Shs500m cash award his party considers an object of corruption. Mpuuga himself has previously claimed that party president Bobi Wine, who has fired him from both his position as commissioner and NUP deputy president for Buganda, is under siege.
While some expected him to leave NUP and form his own political party or even join an existing one ahead of the 2026 general elections, Mpuuga has also insisted he will remain in Bobi Wine’s NUP and try to reform it from within. (See Details Here).
At his thanksgiving ceremony last month, Mpuuga made it clear he can become Uganda’s president or the new president of the NUP party. (Read Story Here).
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