Nandala rallies Jinja voters on turnout, promises jobs to youth

JINJA - As Ugandans prepare to choose among eight presidential candidates to lead the country for the next five years, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate James Nathan Nandala Mafabi has rallied voters in Jinja to turn out in large numbers on polling day, urging them not to surrender their vote amid what he described as growing uncertainty and fear surrounding the electoral process.

Campaigning across Jinja district and Jinja city on Wednesday (December 7), Nandala told residents that high voter turnout remains the most powerful tool citizens have to reclaim their future, calling on supporters to vote for change and protect their ballots.

“I am asking the people of Jinja to come out in big numbers and vote,” Nandala said. “Your vote is your power. When you vote, you decide the future of this country, and we ask all of you to keep peace but guard your vote after voting by keeping 20 meters away from the polling station.”

Nandala was accompanied by FDC flag bearers contesting various positions in Jinja and the wider Busoga sub-region. His campaign caravan made six stopovers across the city and surrounding areas before culminating in a main rally at Kakira, drawing crowds along major roads and trading centres.

Linking politics to livelihoods, Nandala turned to Jinja’s economic past, presenting industrial revival as central to his appeal to voters.

Once Uganda’s industrial heartbeat, Jinja has steadily declined over the decades, a situation Nandala said reflects the broader collapse of the country’s productive sectors under the current administration.

“Jinja used to be an industrial city. Now it is a ghost city,” he said. “Even Amin made it an industrial city. Even Obote made it an industrial city. We promise to give it its glory by bringing back the industries and the tourism heritage that were here.”

He argued that the closure of factories and neglect of industrial infrastructure have robbed the region of jobs and dignity, pushing many families into poverty despite its economic potential.

Nandala pledged that, if elected, his government would prioritise reindustrialisation, starting with traditional industrial hubs such as Jinja, through investment in infrastructure and social services.

“We are going to revamp Jinja to become an industrial area again,” Nandala said. “We are going to do roads, we are going to do hospitals, and we are going to make sure education is top-ranked here.”

The FDC leader linked the industrial decline to the destruction of cooperatives and agricultural value chains that once sustained eastern Uganda, particularly cotton and sugar.

“They destroyed the cooperatives. They destroyed the cotton, all of which came from eastern Uganda, and replaced it with sugarcane, where they are exploiting our people,” he said.

Nandala warned that the current agricultural model leaves farmers at the mercy of powerful factories, even as they bear the cost of land preparation, labour and transport.

“People are now growing sugarcane, but we must make sure they make money out of sugarcane and not become porters of sugar factories,” he said. “Using your own land, you become a porter. That will not be accepted in my government.”

He said his economic vision is anchored in value addition and local benefit, arguing that every region must directly gain from its natural and productive resources.

“Every place, with its own resources, must be used for the area,” Nandala said. “Every Ugandan must enjoy his country.”

Turning to the electoral process, Nandala warned that voter participation was even more critical in light of what he described as serious irregularities by the Electoral Commission (EC).

He accused the EC of illegally handling petitions and carrying out late disqualifications of candidates, actions he said undermine confidence in the electoral process.

“These petitions were supposed to be disposed of within seven days,” Nandala said. “If I submitted my signatures and, at the time of nomination, you verified that they were right, why is it that after two months you come and say they are wrong? What did you verify on the first day?”

He said it was unacceptable for candidates to be cleared, campaign for months, and then be removed from the race on grounds that should have been resolved at the nomination stage.

“How do you remove a candidate who has been campaigning for two months, and then you say now it’s not?” he asked. “That is why we are saying the Electoral Commission is the problem.”

Residents in Jinja echoed similar concerns.

Peter Waiswa, a sugarcane farmer from Budondo subcounty, said falling prices have pushed farmers into hardship.

“The price of sugarcane has gone down badly,” Waiswa said. “A truck that was supposed to be bought at sh130,000, as agreed by government, is now being bought at sh90,000. Farmers have no power because the factories decide everything. We invest in land, labour and transport, but when it comes to payment, we are cheated.”

Harriet Nabirye, a resident of Walukuba East in Jinja city, said poverty remains widespread across Busoga.

“Poverty in Busoga is very high,” she said. “You see it in homes, in markets and among the youth. Many people do not have stable jobs, and farming no longer pays. Even educated young people are idle. That is why people here feel forgotten.”

With just over a week before Ugandans elect their next government, Nandala said he will take his campaign to Ngora district on Thursday (January 8).