By: Boy Fidel Leon
President Yoweri Museveni received his nomination forms on the 23rd of September, at the Electoral Commission offices in Lubowa, officially launching his bid for another five-year term.
After nearly four decades in power, he is asking Ugandans to trust him with five more years under the theme: “Protecting the Gains, Making a Qualitative Leap into High Middle-Income Status.”
The ceremony wasn’t just paperwork. First Lady Janet Museveni and the entire NRM Central Executive Committee showed up in force. This was a clear message that the party machinery is locked and loaded for 2026. Justice Simon Byabakama confirmed all nomination requirements were met. This made it official.
Standing at the EC’s Lubowa headquarters, Museveni used the location itself to make his point. He challenged his media team to find satellite photos of the area from 1986 versus today.
“This was a coffee shamba in 1986. Now look at it,” he said, pointing to the transformed landscape around Lubowa, Lweza, and Bwebajja. “You Gen Z people should see those pictures, you won’t need many words to campaign.”
The President rattled off his economic scorecard: Uganda’s GDP doubled from $34 billion to $66 billion, electricity expanded, roads built, peace maintained. “That’s why investors are flooding in, they want peaceful, profitable places to put their money,” he explained.
But he knows the real challenge isn’t macro numbers—it’s making sure ordinary Ugandans feel the change.
Museveni outlined his ground-level agenda: getting everyone into the money economy through ekibaaro, free education in government schools, better roads (both tarmac and murram), improved healthcare, clean water for all villages, fighting crime and corruption.
“Everyone must be involved in the money economy,” he stressed, then laid out his four-pillar strategy: commercial agriculture, manufacturing, services, and ICT.
On land disputes that plague many rural areas, Museveni was blunt: “The Land Act is clear, no one can evict a kibanja owner. If someone tells you to leave land you’ve been using, they’re taking advantage of your ignorance. It’s illegal.”
For healthcare, he pushed prevention over cure: “Curative health is expensive. Focus on immunization, clean water, and lifestyle changes, and we can eliminate 80% of sicknesses.”
As he wrapped up, Museveni distinguished between activity and achievement: “Our main work is not just work, work, but social economic transformation.”
With nomination papers filed and his campaign theme set, Museveni begins another election cycle with familiar advantages. He has state resources, party unity, and nearly four decades of political experience.
For voters weighing their choices, today’s ceremony marked not just another nomination but a moment to consider what continuity means in a country where change often comes slowly, if at all. And as they say, why leave a good thing ?