Why Museveni is best candidate for youth in 2026 election

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OPINION

By Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye

With months left to the general elections of 2026, statistics by Unicef show that Uganda has the second youngest population globally.

Reports show that more than 78% of Ugandans are below the age of 35. This youthful population is projected to double in the next 25 years.

President Yoweri Museveni describes the youth as ‘our greatest asset’. He made the above description in 2020. He said: “I have been stressing this point, that our youthful population is our greatest asset.”

He has, therefore, been relentlessly urging the youth to be disciplined ideologically, spiritually, morally and educationally, if they are to be useful to themselves and the country.

The President emphasises that if the youth do not uphold those qualities, they will be a failed generation that could become a problem to their families and the country.

The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni, has been advocating the same, as far as youth discipline is concerned.

While in Teso last year, Maama Janet guided that: “Morals should start at home, the foundation of values in the society. You, as parents should not abdicate all the powers to the Government and teachers at school.”

President Museveni has an indelible contribution to the health of youth population in Uganda. When he came to power in January 1986, some of the biggest challenges in the health sector was the high infant mortality rate. This is generally indicative of unmet human needs in sanitation, medical care, nutrition and education.

Aware that such are the contributory factors to Uganda’s high infant mortality rate, President Museveni rolled out the immunisation programme for the then infamous six-killer diseases.

These were polio, diphtheria, measles, tetanus, whooping cough and tuberculosis.

With the co-operation of parents, infants were immunised against these diseases and, therefore, lives were saved. We thank President Museveni for this contribution.

Also, in a long-drawn-out move to save lives, President Museveni’s government expanded the hospital infrastructure. The move has been successful, considering that Uganda today has 156 hospitals.

Of these, five are national referral hospitals, 14 regional hospitals, 137 general hospitals, 226 health centres IV, 1,755 health centres III, 3,178 health centres II and 1,601 clinics. In a nutshell, today, 86% of Ugandans live within 5km of a health facility.

President Museveni has been salvaging Uganda’s health sector at the same time as with the education sector. After increasing some school infrastructure, the President introduced Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997.

This programme has since enabled children from financially struggling families to access free education at primary school level.

Free education was then extended to O’ level in 2007. Such programmes explain why the literacy level in Uganda is now as high as 70+%.

The literacy rate will skyrocket, considering that President Museveni’s government policy is to have one primary school per parish, a secondary school per sub-county and a technical institute per district. For those finishing their education, President Museveni put in place the Youth Livelihood Programme in the financial year 2013/2014.

Its objective is to empower the youth to harness their socio-economic potential and increase self-employment opportunities and income levels. He also put up the Parish Development Model for the benefit of youth, among others. With all that and more in place for the good of the youth, President Museveni is definitely the best candidate for the youth in the forthcoming presidential elections.

The writer is a senior presidential adviser, political affairs, Office of the National Chairperson/national co-ordinator Bazzukulu