Agago now stands as symbol of peace—Museveni

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President Yoweri Museveni has said Agago district, which had once been devastated by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel activity and cattle rustling by armed Karimojong, now stands as a symbol of peace.

He noted on Friday (October 24) that this peace was restored through the efforts of their strong army and the unity fostered by the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party.

The NRM presidential candidate in the 2026 general election made the remarks while concluding his campaign rallies in the Acholi sub-region, with the final event held at Lt Gen. Paul Lokech Memorial Stadium in Agago town council.

“We have been able to bring peace because we built up a strong army and a strong political party. All of you have contributed to peace because you bring information about the troublemakers,” he told thousands of his supporters.

Just as in other districts he has campaigned in, Museveni’s message to the residents of Agago focused on three key pillars: peace, development, and wealth creation.

On electricity, he said it used to stop in Lira district and that he decided that it must be extended to West Nile through Kitgum district.

“At one stage, the Swedish partners who were supposed to fund the transmission lines from Patongo–Kolongo–Adilang withdrew. We said, ‘No problem, we shall do it ourselves.’ This is why prioritisation is key,” he said.

He, however, noted a challenge in education. He said Agago has 112 government primary schools and 117 parishes, but only 42 parishes have all the government primary schools.

“This means that there are parishes with more than one primary school and many without any. I have directed the minister of education to review this imbalance so that every parish across Uganda has at least one government primary school,” he said.

He thanked the people of Acholi for their overwhelming support and implored them to vote for the ruling party in next year’s election.

About LRA war

The LRA insurgency started in Acholi in 1987 under the command of Joseph Kony and spilt over into Teso in June 2003, bringing death and destruction to many areas.

The rebels relied heavily on the abduction of children for use as soldiers, and atrocities against the civilian population were commonplace.

During the conflict, cattle rustling led to increased poverty in the area and some of the area’s young people grew up in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs), which led to interrupted transitions to adulthood.

After the conflict, many communities had reduced access to education and health services, owing to the absence of qualified staff.  Infrastructure, such as roads and transport links, was devastated too.

Insecurity was a campaign bait for the opposition in the region during the 1996 and 2001 general elections. However, the return of peace in 2006 turned out to be Museveni’s masterpiece in the region.

Since 2011, the NRM Government has been executing war recovery programmes through the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) II and the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP II).

NUSAF and PRDP are affirmative action programmes meant to rehabilitate northern Uganda. Under these programmes, the government built tarmac roads, constructed classrooms and teachers’ houses, as well as supplying desks and sinking boreholes, among other things. Ends