BUWENGE, JINJA DISTRICT – A palpable wave of excitement has swept through Buwenge Town Council as residents eagerly await the official launch of the 2026 presidential campaigns for the National Unity Platform (NUP) President, Hon. Robert Kyagulanyi, scheduled for Monday, September 29th, 2025.
The event is seen as a significant strategic move into the Busoga sub-region, an area political analysts describe as increasingly disillusioned with President Yoweri Museveni and his National Resistance Movement (NRM) government.
For years, Busoga has been plagued by systemic challenges that have stunted its development. The region has become synonymous with pervasive poverty, often ranked only behind the semi-arid and volatile Karamoja region. This economic despair is largely attributed to low and unpredictable sugarcane prices, which cripple the area’s primary agricultural sector.
Further grievances include alleged torture of residents by security personnel operating on Lake Victoria and the River Nile. Although President Museveni recently ordered their withdrawal, the memory of their presence remains a sore point. The region also suffers from a dilapidated state of infrastructure, with schools, health centers, and roads in what many describe as a “sorry state.”
The political landscape of Busoga was further shaken in August by the ejection of the region’s most prominent political figure, the First Deputy Prime Minister and EAC Affairs Minister, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, from the NRM’s powerful Central Executive Committee (CEC). This move has led many locals and observers to view Busoga as a “political orphan” within the ruling party, creating a perceived vacuum and an urgent need for new representation.
In this climate of frustration and shifting allegiances, Hon. Kyagulanyi’s campaign launch is viewed as a pivotal moment. Residents, fed up with what they term “endless empty promises” from the current administration, are looking towards the 2026 elections as a potential turning point.
Political analysts suggest that the convergence of economic hardship, social neglect, and the recent sidelining of a key leader has made Busoga a critical battleground. The high anticipation in Buwenge signals a region actively seeking an alternative and sets the stage for a fiercely contested election cycle in the heart of Busoga.
