KAMPALA, Sept.30 29: Uganda on Monday officially launched presidential campaigns, with eight candidates, including incumbent President Yoweri Museveni, vying for the East African country’s top office in the 2026 polls.
The campaigns will run for three months across all 146 districts before culminating in the presidential election on Jan. 2, 2026.
Museveni, who has ruled for 39 years, is seeking a seventh consecutive five-year term.
His main challengers include Robert Kyagulanyi, widely known as Bobi Wine, a pop star-turned-politician from the National Unity Platform, and Nathan Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change.
Julius Mucunguzi, spokesperson for the Electoral Commission, said the body is fully prepared to deliver free and fair elections, with campaigns permitted daily from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. local time.
“We agreed on a harmonized campaign program for all eight presidential candidates. We call upon the candidates to abide by the campaign calendar and the guidelines,” Mucunguzi said.
National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential flag bearer Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has been welcomed by hundreds of fervent supporters who lined the Amber Court Gardens roundabout in Jinja City and clustered at petrol stations along Nalufenya Road West.
Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, widely known as Bobi Wine, launched an 11-point manifesto under the National Unity Platform (NUP), outlining a vision to “reset” Uganda through sweeping political, economic, and social reforms ahead of the 2026 elections.
Speaking in Kagoma, Jinja District, Kyagulanyi addressed thousands of supporters, presenting a detailed policy agenda he says is necessary to tackle Uganda’s deep-rooted political and governance challenges.
Security forces had earlier attempted to disperse gatherings to forestall an opposition procession, but NUP supporters skilfully evaded the crackdown. Some took cover inside the Amber Court market while others lingered on their motorcycles pretending to wait for passengers, frustrating the security sweep.
The atmosphere shifted dramatically around 1:45 p.m., when Kyagulanyi’s advance team arrived. Supporters poured from the market, swelling onto Kyabazinga Way, part of the busy Jinja-Iganga highway, as motorcycle riders revved up and trailed the convoy.
Police patrol vehicles quickly moved to control traffic and cut off procession routes at key roundabouts, but the crowds persisted. A breakaway group of what Kyagulanyi calls his “foot soldiers” tactically rejoined the procession at Wairaka Junction, temporarily stalling traffic for more than 15 minutes before heading toward Polota in Kakira Town Council.
From there, an even larger throng escorted the candidate through the murram roads of the Kakira sugar plantations to Busedde playground, where he held his first rally.
Speaking for about 10 minutes, Kyagulanyi thanked residents for “choosing change” in last year’s elections and urged them to replicate that resolve in the coming national polls. He pledged to expand social services and uplift grassroots livelihoods, a central theme of his 2026 campaign against the long-ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Joining him was Maria Nattabi, NUP’s Butembe parliamentary aspirant, who highlighted the district’s youthful population that is struggling with high unemployment despite advanced education.
She argued that NUP offers a platform for financing innovation and job creation, contrasting it with what she described as the stagnation under the current government.