Kyagulanyi’s week of pledges to Lango and Karamoja

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National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu vowed to tackle corruption, inequality, and decades of underdevelopment in the north as he took his campaign tours to the Lango and Karamoja sub-regions.

During his week-long campaign across Lira, Alebtong, Apac, Abim, Kotido, Kwania, and Kaabong, Kyagulanyi accused the government of deliberately keeping Karamoja poor to maintain political control.

“They use poverty as a tool so that you continue begging for what already belongs to you,” he said while campaigning at Boma Grounds in Kotido on Wednesday.

In Lango, Kyagulanyi’s message was shaped by his own experience. His convoy, moving between Alebtong and Otuke, was forced to stop and suspend visiting Otuke after encountering flooded and broken roads. He resorted to roadside rallies in Apala and Akura Trading centre, promising to prioritise rural infrastructure.

“If a presidential candidate cannot reach your home because of bad roads, what about a farmer trying to take produce to market?” he asked.

He vowed that his government would treat road construction and maintenance as a citizen’s right, not a political reward, and would connect villages to markets, schools, and hospitals.

Kyagulanyi also promised justice and reconciliation for the north, which was affected by the two-decade Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency. He urged residents to reject tribalism, calling for a united Uganda rooted in fairness.

“Those mistakes made us enemies of one another, yet we are one people,” he told supporters in Lira city, at Akii Bua Stadium on Monday. “This is our 1962—our time to write new history and correct the mistakes of the past.”

Crossing into Karamoja, Kyagulanyi’s team faced what he called "the harsh realities of poverty and neglect". Between Kapedo and Karenga in Karamoja, his convoy was stranded on an impassable 70-kilometre stretch of road, forcing the cancellation of a rally in Karenga on Thursday.

“We have seen poverty, a sick healthcare system, and, in some areas, no health service at all,” he told journalists during a short press conference in Kidepo National Park at nightfall, under the protection of personnel who had escorted his motorcade to ensure safe travel in the area.

In Abim and Kotido, Kyagulanyi promised to ensure locals benefit from the region’s gold, copper, and marble wealth. He blamed corruption and foreign exploitation for Karamoja’s misery, vowing to channel mineral revenues into education, agriculture, and water access.

“This is where all the expensive minerals come from, yet look at the roads, the poverty, the dysfunctional hospitals,” he said. “After 40 years, we can say enough is enough.”

Throughout his tour, Kyagulanyi linked poverty to bad governance and corruption, accusing the regime of enriching a few while leaving most behind.

“Every five years, the President picks a few people and makes them rich—and you seem to accept that,” he said. “In NUP, we have chosen to come together to change this country.”

He urged the youth to take charge of their destiny through their vote, saying: “ This is your time; it may not come again.”

During his week-long tour of the region, Kyagulanyi said his campaign is about restoring justice and equality across Uganda.

“Uganda does not lack resources,” he said. “It lacks justice. And that is what we are coming to restore.”

On Monday, November 3, 2025, Kyagulanyi is expected to campaign in parts of Buganda, starting with Butambala and Gomba before proceeding to Sembabule on Tuesday and concluding the day in Lyantonde.

During the same week, he is also expected to cover the western districts of Kazo, Kiruhura, Isingiro, Mbarara, Rwampara, and Ntungamo.