By: Boy Fidel Leon
The streets of Koboko were empty. People huddled across the border in South Sudan, afraid to return home.
That was Uganda in 1986 when President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and the National Resistance Movement took power.
On Tuesday 16th October, addressing supporters at a rally in Koboko District, the President recalled those early days. Driving toward the Olaba border and seeing faces peeping through the fence from across the line, uncertain whether it was safe to come back.
“I called them to come back home,” he said. “Today, Koboko is full of people again because of the peace that the NRM restored.” This, he argued, is the NRM’s greatest achievement. Not just victory, but bringing Ugandans home.
The peace didn’t come from ideology alone. Museveni credited the NRM’s willingness to move past sectarianism, (the divisions of tribe, religion, and gender) that had torn the country apart. That inclusive approach, he said, opened every institution to all Ugandans, including the army, the police, and the civil service.
“It is therefore suicidal to talk about the politics of sectarianism,” he said, urging Koboko to hold that line.
Standing before the crowd, Museveni spoke of his own record. Sixty-five years watching Uganda. Decades directly involved in its politics. He wasn’t just offering himself as a candidate, he said. He had earned reasons to lead.
The NRM’s seven-point plan, he explained, rests on the same foundation that rebuilt Uganda: patriotism and unity. Those principles are showing up in concrete form across Koboko.
The Vurra–Arua–Koboko road is done. The Atiak–Adjuman road finished. The Koboko–Yumbe–Moyo road is under way, expected in 2027. An industrial park is coming to create manufacturing jobs.
In schooling, the picture is clearer. Fifty-nine government primary schools. Six government secondaries. Ten in the municipality. But Museveni wasn’t satisfied. He directed that every parish should have a government school, every sub-county a government secondary. And he wants it done properly.
He’s frustrated with head teachers still charging fees despite free education since 1996. “I saw the danger coming in 1995 and introduced free education, but they didn’t listen,” he said.
His answer is simple: establish free training centres and recruit over 50,000 teachers in the next term.
But he also pushed back against dependency on government alone. Yes, the infrastructure is there, tarmac, electricity, schools, hospitals. But those are collective achievements. What matters is what sits in your own home.
“What is yours? In your household there is either poverty or wealth,” he said, urging Koboko to focus on personal wealth creation.
First Lady Janet Museveni stood beside him, thanking the crowd for their turnout.
“This is the day the Lord has made; we must rejoice,” she said, calling for 90% support in the coming elections.
Others echoed the theme. NRM Vice Chairperson for Northern Uganda, Hon. Hamson Obua praised Museveni for restoring peace after the chaos that followed Idi Amin’s fall. Koboko District NRM Chairperson Dramiga Samanya thanked the President for entrusting district party structures with leading the campaign and credited the government for delivering peace, electricity, and roads to the district.