By Aggrey Baba
The People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) has opened up its nomination process with what many are calling one of the most accessible fee structures so far, setting the stage for a charged political season where the cost of entering the race is shaping into a national conversation.
Starting today, aspirants for various elective positions can pick expression of interest forms from the party’s Katonga Road offices, with the charges pegged at UGX 2.5 million for presidential hopefuls, UGX 500,000 for Members of Parliament and Kampala’s Lord Mayor, UGX 250,000 for other City Mayors, UGX 25,000 for LC5 councillors, and UGX 10,000 for LC3 councillors.
Hon. Michael Kabaziguruka, the party’s Acting Electoral Commission Manager, confirmed the development and said the fees are intended to “facilitate administrative work without locking out the ordinary citizen.”
PFF’s move has cast the spotlight on how different parties are treating internal nominations, and once again, the gap in approach is as wide as River Nile.
While the new Party is slashing the bar low for entry, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has gone in the opposite direction, tightening the noose on aspirants with some of the highest nomination fees in the country.
For anyone eyeing the NRM presidential flag, the price is now UGX 20 million. Members of Parliament are required to pay UGX 3 million, up from the UGX 2 million charged in previous cycles. Those seeking to contest for Lord Mayor will part with UGX 1.5 million, while city mayors and LC5 aspirants are expected to fork out UGX 1 million each. Division mayors are being asked to pay UGX 500,000.
The Kyadondo based barty insists the charges are necessary to fund a party as big as theirs, but internally, the move has raised eyebrows. Some aspirants, especially first-timers, say the fees are quietly weeding out candidates without deep pockets or well-oiled godfathers.
On the other side of the fence, the National Unity Platform (NUP) has continued with its policy of free internal nominations, saying this is in line with their belief in political inclusivity, especially for young and underprivileged Ugandans who would otherwise be left out of the process before it even begins.
Though NUP’s policy doesn’t cover the fees payable to the Electoral Commission during national nominations, the removal of internal charges is seen as a firm gesture toward accessibility and fairness.
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) set out with what many called a reasonable scale, UGX 100,000 for MPs, UGX 50,000 for district chairpersons and city mayors, and no charges for councillors.
But the party has been rocked by reports of district-level officials inflating the fees. In Sironko, aspiring MPs were reportedly being asked to pay UGX 500,000 instead of the agreed UGX 100,000, drawing fire from within, and forcing the party’s electoral commission to intervene and demand a return to the official scale.
It has exposed FDC’s weakness in maintaining internal discipline and guarding against gatekeeping by local power brokers who may have turned nomination into a business.
The wide differences in nomination charges are now becoming a reflection of each party’s true character, where PFF, still building its foundation, is trying to walk the talk of citizen empowerment.
NUP is staying loyal to its anti-establishment ethos by keeping the gate open for everyone, FDC seems caught between progressive ideals and on-the-ground realities, while NRM, with all its machinery, is charging what many now say amounts to a fee for political survival.
