2026 Polls: Premier Nabbanja rallies Kitgum to elect Museveni

KITGUM - Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has rallied the women in Kitgum Municipality to vote for President Yoweri Museveni in the forthcoming 2026 election.

Nabbanja was speaking as the chief guest at the belated Women's Day celebration for women in Kitgum Municipality.

The celebration was organised by the State Minister for Water and Environment, Beatrice Atim Anywar, under the theme "empowered woman, empower the world".

Nabbaja reminded the women in Kitgum of President Museveni's dedication to championing gender equality and his empowerment of women through the initiation of various empowerment projects aimed at elevating their socio-economic status.

She listed the projects to include: the Uganda Women's Entrepreneurship Project (UWEP), the GROW project, the Parish Development Project, and promotion of affirmative action for women in politics through the appointment of women in political and civil posts, as well as the promotion of girls' education.

Nabbaja donated sh40m to the Kitgum Main Market women's association and advised the executive to put the money under a revolving fund to boost the women-led businesses.

Cash bonanza during district tour

The Premier visited Kitgum Comprehensive College, one of the private secondary mixed schools in Kitgum Municipality with the largest student population, where she laid the foundation stone for the construction of a girls’ dormitory.

She also inspected two complex twin church buildings: the Christ the King Catholic Church construction project and the St. Janani Luwum memorial church at Kitgum town parish.

The two church projects launched by both Catholics and Anglicans decades ago had stalled despite receiving financial and in-kind support from the president.

Nabbanja informed the religious leaders at Christ the King and St. Janani Luwum Memorial Church that President Museveni is passionate about the role being played by the church in moulding citizens through promoting spiritual welfare, education, health, and livelihood projects.

She pledged sh20 million and 300 iron sheets to Christ the King Parish to help complete the church building.

Initially, President Museveni had donated shs50m and 500 iron sheets. The money is said to have been utilised in building this church.

Rev. Fr. Christopher Komakech, the episcopal vicar of Kitgum vicariates, welcomed the donation from the prime minister's office and reassured the government that the church will continue to work with the government.

At St. Janani Luwum, the premier pledged shs. 20m to help the church continue with their stall construction work, and promised to inform the president to send more support to complete this church construction work.

Nabbanja informed the religious leaders at Christ the King and St. Janani Luwum Memorial Church that President Museveni is passionate about the role being played by the church in moulding citizens through promoting spiritual welfare, education, health, and livelihood projects. (Credit: Christopher Nyeko)

Support for youth

Nabbanja also offered sh10m to the Kitgum Youth Saving and Credit Cooperative Association.

She also encouraged and rallied the youth to embrace production so that her office can direct the investor to establish the factories in Kitgum when there are available raw materials.

Local leaders table demands 

 Richard Okwera Ojara, the Kitgum municipal mayor, asked the OPM to include Kitgum district in the Development Response to Displacement Impact project (DRDIP), saying Kitgum is overburdened with the overflow of refugees.

He noted that refugees from the Palabek settlement are referred to the Kitgum district to access social services like health and education, which has caused challenges to service delivery to the people of Kitgum.

He also asked the prime minister to give one tractor to YY Okot Memorial College, saying the school sits on 70 arable acres of land with a student population of over 2000 students, and if a tractor is delivered, it will help the school to produce food for their students.

Christopher Arwai Obol, the Kitgum district LC5 chairperson, requested the premier to consider upgrading Kitgum General Hospital into the regional referral hospital, saying this facility is now serving the population from the four districts of East Acholi, Kitgum, Lamwo, Pader, and Agago, as well as South Sudanese from South Sudan.

He also requested the prime minister to upgrade all 12 Health Centre IIS within the district into HCIIIs and to construct HCIII in four sub-counties without any health facilities within the district.

Defecation

During the commemoration of Women's Day, at least over 100 people who presented with a party card for the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) defected to the NRM.

They were welcomed into the NRM by the NRM senior office, such as the prime minister, Mr. Beatrice Atim Anywar, and Lt. Gen Charles Otema Awany, the commander of the UPDF reserve force.

Atim told the prime minister that she is still hunting for more bigwigs remaining in the FDC to convert them into NRM.

FDC speaks out

Morish Oyoo, the FDC party chairperson for Kigum district, claimed that the defection was forged, asserting that the FDC has ceased issuance of manual party cards to its members and all of their members are registered digitally on the party database.

He observed that some of the people who claimed to have defected to NRM are already members of NRM who are behaving that way so that they are given money, and these people are always in town and defecting to any political party to get money.

Oyoo claimed that some of the t-shirts were those of Dr. Kizza Beigey for the 2011 campaigns, and Atim kept them at her home; today, she dresses some of the people in camouflage in the name of defection.