By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Democratic Party (DP) acting spokesperson and Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) president, Ismail Kiirya, has said that he is the best choice to challenge the incumbent Secretary General, Hon. Gerald Siranda, in the party’s upcoming 2025–2030 leadership race.
“DP must be different from NRM, not a replica,” Kiirya emphasized.
Kiirya was on Tuesday nominated for this position by the party’s Electoral Management Committee, at Balintuma Road Rubaga division Kampala.
Speaking to Parrots Media, Kiirya criticized the current DP leadership for what he described as a decline in internal democracy and a betrayal of the party’s founding values.
“I am a better choice than Hon. Siranda,” Kiirya stated. “My candidacy is about restoring sanity and returning the Democratic Party to the people. The current leadership has mimicked the same structures we once opposed.”
Running under the campaign slogan “The Future is Now”, Kiirya said his leadership would bring a new direction to the party, anchored in transparency, youth inclusion, and institutional reform.
The UYD President also questioned the lack of term limits for party leadership, divisions within the party, among others, and positioned himself as the best candidate to modernize and reform the party into a credible alternative to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“Before we can talk of national dialogue, we must first fix our internal divisions,” Kiirya said.
“Why am I contesting? The biggest reason is to bring the party back to our ideology,” Kiirya said. “We have criticized the NRM for years, but now we are mimicking its very practices. That must change.”
“DP must be different from NRM, not a replica,” he emphasized.
Kiirya will face off against Mityana South MP Richard Lumu, and the incumbent Gerald Siranda, who enjoys the backing of DP President Hon. Nobert Mao, in what is expected to be a heated internal contest in one of Uganda’s oldest political parties, as it prepares for a critical transition ahead of the 2026 general elections.
DP will elect its new leaders during a Delegates Conference on May 30 in Ruti, Mbarara City.
