In the sweltering heat of Mbarara’s national delegates’ conference in June, the Democratic Party (DP) of Uganda laid bare its soul, or whatever that remained of it. Months later, party president Norbert Mao stunned many by openly declaring support for President Yoweri Museveni’s 2026 re-election bid.
His statement tore through the ranks of DP loyalists, deepening an already visible fracture. For many supporters, this was the final betrayal in a long story of decline and compromise. Yet, amid the noise, a small band of diehards has refused to walk away.
They find their comfort in lyrics from Kadongo Kamu legend Paul Kafeero: ‘Gwe ate bwoba olezze kabebbi ko, bwekakwononeera otuga katuge? Mbadde oyonja nozza n’okalere?’ loosely translated as ‘If you are carrying your baby and it soils you, do just strangle it?
I thought you just clean it and continue holding it?’ Kafeero’s words in a song titled Abako Mugyebale Emirimu (Endulu) , stripped of melody, have become a moral compass for these DP loyalists. They believe the party, despite its filth and fatigue, still deserves a chance to be cleaned.
The baby, however dirty, is theirs. To throw it away would be to abandon not only the party but also the ideals and memories it carries. This reflection captures what it means to belong to a party that once stood as Uganda’s conscience.
Founded in 1954, DP predates independence. It symbolised a vision of politics grounded in rule of law, social justice, and faith-based ethics.
It was the political home of Benedicto Kiwanuka, Uganda’s first prime minister and one of the earliest martyrs of conscience. Through the turbulence of coups, detentions, and ideological shifts, DP remained a moral voice, even when power eluded it. But that was then.
Today’s DP looks different. Mao’s 2022 ‘cooperation agreement’ with President Museveni blurred lines that once defined Uganda’s Opposition politics. To critics, it confirmed what they had long suspected-that the NRM had infiltrated, weakened, and domesticated the once-proud party.
They now call DP a ‘shell,’ its organs hollowed out and its purpose diluted. Still, some supporters remain. When pressed, they sound weary but not hopeless.
‘Yes, DP is broken,’ one longtime member in Masaka said. ‘But if all of us run away, who will stay to rebuild it?’ For them, political migration is no solution.
They view other Opposition parties as unstable, opportunistic, or similarly captured. To them, defecting to the National Unity Platform or Forum for Democratic Change or People Front for Freedom would be to join another house already on fire. Journalist Baker Batte, always asked why anyone would remain in DP ‘when Museveni already ate it for dinner.’
The question stings, but it misunderstands the emotional bond between party and members. Many of those who stay do so out of memory and conviction. They remember the party that stood for truth and justice not in word but in action. Their loyalty is not naïve; it is rooted in history.
To them, leaving DP feels like erasing the footprints of Uganda’s democratic journey. The struggle of Kiwanuka, Ssemogerere, and others cannot be discarded like a worn-out slogan.
History, they say, must not be buried under the weight of temporary setbacks. ‘DP was the first to speak truth to power,’ one elder said. ‘Even if it has stumbled, we cannot spit on our own grave.’
Of course, critics counter that sentimentality feeds paralysis. They argue that clinging to the past prevents political renewal. They remind the faithful that ideals mean little when leadership has sold out. They accuse the loyalists of emotional blindness, saying DP has lost its ideological spine and organisational relevance.
But the ‘Paate’ members and supporter persist. To them, DP is Kafeero’s soiled baby. You do not throw away your child because of dirt. You clean it, even if the cleaning takes time.
First, they know their party has fallen, but they also believe decline is not death. Their patience may look foolish to outsiders. But in their quiet defiance lies a belief that time still matters in politics.
Regeneration, they argue, begins with presence, not absence. They wait, not because they expect a miracle, but because they see no dignity in abandonment. And so they stay as they wait for the season when the baby is clean again.