Muntu promises to combat Karamoja cattle rustlers

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The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) presidential candidate, Mugisha Muntu, has promised to install security surveillance drones in all border districts near the Karamoja sub-region to combat insecurity caused by Karamoja cattle rustlers.

Muntu made the remarks while responding to public concerns that security threats in the area were largely due to cattle rustlers who steal animals and kill residents.

Addressing a campaign rally on November 8, 2025, at Lujim parish, Omiya Pacwa sub-county in Agago district, Muntu pledged to install surveillance drones and microchips in all kraals to track stolen cattle during security operations.

“You have, for several occasions in every campaign season, been intimidated that if you do not vote the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, your animals will be taken by Karamoja rustlers, but when you kept voting President Yoweri Museveni in power, the problem persisted. This is the only chance to trust me and vote for me to sort out the mess created by NRM,” Muntu said.

“The problem of Karamoja cattle rustlers has been reported in many districts in Gulu, Amuru, Nwoya and now Agago. In the Teso sub-region also. We are the only ones who will address this insecurity that has affected the local masses who can’t develop at the same rate with the rest of Uganda because of insecurity,” he said.

“When elected in 2026, I will make sure that we install security surveillance drones to follow and pursue the Karamoja raiders and arrest them to wipe out habits of theft in our communities as part of corruption-fighting efforts,” Muntu pledged.

Muntu noted that insecurity caused by rustlers in Karamoja has persisted since colonial times but remains a complex challenge for the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), which has failed to resolve it after 40 years in power.

To the ordinary eye, he said, the Karimojong have been perceived as hostile, poor and vulnerable, yet they possess the capacity to cause insecurity while operating like a ‘rebel group’ because their dignity has been eroded by NRM’s manipulative politics.

“Our government shall design new livelihood approaches to revolutionise agriculture, the health sector and education to help the people of Karamoja address the poverty issue which has led them to live behind the rest of Uganda,” he said.

“I pledge to address it when elected in power because it needs a holistic approach to heal people’s wounds, especially those affected by the Kony war, creating a deliberate justice system to treat all Ugandans equally because I operate from the position of caution rather than trying to manoeuvre into something that will lead us to nowhere,” he added.

Coordinating with regional governments to end gun violence

Muntu said the raids have continued because of the easy access to guns through porous borders with neighbouring countries, with the NRM government showing limited capacity to enforce full disarmament.

“Under my government, when elected in 2026, I will do what President Yoweri Museveni’s government has failed to do: engage regional governments to create deliberate strategies to lift these communities out of poverty,” he promised.

“What you should know is that peace is not the absence of war but rather the presence of justice,” Muntu emphasised.

“Uganda and Kenya look to be cooperating on only suppressing the oppressed population, but seem to have failed to create alternative strategies and empowerment to these pastoral communities of Turkana and Karamoja to come out of poverty as South Sudan battles insecurity caused by civil wars.”

“I shall engage Kenya, South Sudan and Ethiopia to come up with total disarmament and economic empowerment strategies to lift these neighbouring communities out of poverty if they are to break down cycles of cattle rustling in these regions,” he suggested.

Muntu said the Karamoja raids have caused immense suffering in Kitgum, Agago and Gulu districts, as well as in the Teso sub-region.

David Acana, an area resident, asked Muntu to fence off Kidepo Valley National Park, saying elephants and other wild animals have continued to destroy crops and gardens, creating food insecurity in the region.