The sound of cheers filled Nebbi District on Saturday as First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Kataaha Museveni, stood beside President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, appealing to Ugandans—especially the youth—to vote for peace and stability in the upcoming 2026 general elections.
With the golden afternoon sun casting long shadows over the crowd, Maama Janet’s voice carried a message of remembrance and responsibility. “Every one of us who has a vote has a responsibility to vote for a peaceful Uganda,” she said, reminding the audience of the country’s turbulent past.
She told the thousands gathered that peace was the foundation upon which all progress rests. “Development, prosperity, transformation — all that builds on peace and freedom in our land if we maintain it,” she said, warning that losing peace would mean losing the very essence of Uganda’s nationhood.
The First Lady emphasized that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) has been the vehicle through which Uganda’s peace and stability were rebuilt. “Please remember, you have a responsibility to your family, your district, and your country to ensure that peace and freedom remain in Uganda. And God is using the NRM in this season to fight for that freedom and peace,” she added.
President Museveni, who is also the NRM Presidential Flag Bearer, echoed her call. He attributed Uganda’s long stretch of peace to the ruling party’s inclusive ideology that shuns sectarianism.
“NRM has been active on the Ugandan scene for the last 65 years,” he said. “The reason there is peace in Uganda today is because we don’t believe in sectarianism — not of religion, not of tribe, and not of gender. We value every citizen equally.”
The President reflected on Uganda’s post-independence history, explaining that divisions along religious and tribal lines once crippled the country’s unity. “By 1965, we had seen the danger of sectarianism and said no, this is very dangerous,” he said. “That is how we started the youth study groups, which eventually became the NRM.”
Museveni highlighted the NRM’s guiding principles of patriotism and Pan-Africanism, noting that these values helped unify Ugandans and establish national institutions such as the army, police, and civil service that serve all citizens without discrimination.
Turning to the education sector, the President drew a sharp contrast between Uganda’s past and present. “In 1961, there were only three A-level schools in the whole country,” he recalled. “Today, Nebbi alone has eight government secondary schools, most of them offering A-level. This shows how far we have come.”
Museveni also outlined government progress in health and infrastructure development within the West Nile sub-region. He said that out of Nebbi’s sixteen sub-counties, ten already have health centres, with plans to equip the remaining six. He further expressed pride that West Nile is now fully connected to the national electricity grid up to Koboko.
“We are committed to ensuring that all communities benefit from the fruits of peace,” Museveni told the jubilant crowd. “I therefore ask the people of Nebbi to vote for the NRM to enable us to continue on our path toward achieving a high-income middle status.”
As the rally ended, the message from both leaders was unmistakable: peace is a shared responsibility, and the choices Ugandans make in 2026 will determine whether the nation continues to thrive or risks returning to its darker days.
