Former Presidential candidate Joseph Kabuleta, who contested as an Independent in the last election, has officially unveiled National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) as a political party ahead of the 2026 general election.
According to Kabuleta, NEED will keep the focus of the pressure group, to economically empower Ugandans.
NEED, which was initiated a year ago as a pressure group, has now merged with the People’s United Movement (PUM) to become one party, with Joseph Kabuleta as its founding president.
The same function that took place at the party headquarters in Bugolobi, a Kampala suburb also included the official handover of office instruments from the outgoing president Shadrack Ogemba to Kabuleta.
The party was first registered on October 7 2005 under the name People’s United Movement (PUM).
Speaking during a news conference in Kampala, Kabuleta said he joined PUM two years ago before the 2021 presidential elections but chose to run as an independent without revealing the reasons for doing so.
"I was approached by Ogemba and his colleagues and they told me that they had been keenly following my arguments and concluded that we have a lot in common and we share the same ideology they had when they registered their party in October 2005," he said.
Kabuleta noted that the formation of the new party had been planned.
He said the party will push further the agenda of economic empowerment of Ugandans which he has been occupied with since the last elections, noting that Uganda needs good leadership capable of using the available resources to the benefit of the people.
"We believe that the resources we have in this country are enough to give the 43.4 million Ugandans a very decent life. Change will definitely happen, the change that NEED proposes will definitely be to the benefit of everyone. It’s possible to empower people, “he said.
He stated that economic empowerment is the only true form of empowerment, something the current government has denied Ugandans, turning many Ugandans into beggars hence making them easy to be used.
Uganda has over 30 registered political parties but not more than seven are active.
Kabuleta was unveiled as the interim party president, pending a national delegates conference to elect substantive leaders of the new political party.
