Related Articles
BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
ARUA: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2025
The delectation of young people into the National Resistance Movement are not a surprise to anybody who has been in party politics, Vincent Anguzu, an NRM youth winger has said.
“These defections simply prove the numerical strength of the NRM and the soundness of the manifesto pitched to the people by President Yoweri Museveni who is the party’s flag bearer. It is an early pointer to a landslide victory for the ruling party come January 2026,” he declared emphatically.
Anguzu’s assertion follows the a plethora of defections of young people from the Forum for Democratic Change and the National Unity Platform of whom over 80 were received by the NRM Finance Director Hajjat Medina at the Mvara Core PTC play grounds last week.
Among the defectors was Sidney Andama, coordinator for the NUP in Pangisa Ward who insisted that they were wallowing under the veil of deceit in the opposition and that they had seen light in NRM.
Accordingly, the allure to defect became too much to resist and especially so when the Finance Chief Medina is in town.
David Edema, formerly the FDC publicity secretary for Arua City who exited the opposition party a month ago was also in the mix.
Edema insisted that his crossing to the NRM was not influenced by political bribery but by the fact that the lies that the opposition propagated to tarnish the ruling NRM have been exposed.
He pointed out the connection of West Nile to the National electricity grid, the tarmacking of the highway from Kampala to Oraba and the implementation of the Parish Development Model among others.
He singled out Jackson Atima, the Member of Parliament for Arua Central Division whom he said performed so wondrously that it convinced him to leave the opposition.
Describing him as an approachable MP who embraces people of all categories regardless of religion, tribe and status, Edema said Atima is a champion of development who should be given another term to consolidate achievements.
Another wave of defections presided over by Medina show supporters of a defeated former contestant of the NRM primary elections, Ronald Debo joining the camp of Jackson Atima.
However, Anguzu said the mass defections are not only in Arua City but in all the districts in which President Museveni has campaigned as he hunts for votes.
“The message is clear and being appreciate by the young generation,” he said.
Anguzu has been deeply embedded in the presidential trail that he has moved everywhere where the president has campaigned since September, 2025.
He said everyday NRM receives over 200 defectors wherever the president has addressed a rally and the defectors tell them that there is nothing useful that the opposition is selling to them.
They have seen light in NRM from the opposition oblivion and they go on to thank President Musevei for keeping peace and political stability for the last 40 years.
To the young people who are still in opposition or sitting on the fence of party politics due to hesitation, Anguzu has this message: “Stop wasting your time in opposition that has zero chance of capturing state power. I urge my fellow young people to immediately join the NRM with all the boldness they can muster.”
Sitting in the company of new folks joining from the opposition camps, Fauz Sijali, another NRM youth winger in Arua City is over the moon.
He said they need all the youths to be in the NRM in order to protect the gains achieved in the past 40 or so years of Museveni’s regime.
“When we talk of protecting the gains, do not bring in a greedy mindset. We are talking about collective national gains not personal gains,” he emphasized.
Sijali said Uganda is exporting peace to neighboring countries such as South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo and this creates conditions that are conducive for the young people to thrive through cross-border trade.
Medina thanked the young folks for abandoning the opposition and advised them to form groups so that she can dedicate time to meet them.
“Arua is for peace, West Nile is for peace. So, we say no protest votes in Arua, no protest votes in West Nile,” she said.
