- THE KIKUUBE DISTRICT LC5 CHAIRPERSON BY-ELECTION
The Electoral Commission has released the roadmap to fill the vacancy left by the late Kubuube District Chairperson Peter Banura, who died in a road crash on April 4, after being re-elected in the recently concluded general elections.
The EC has set May 25th to 26th as dates for Nominations and June 10th as Polling day.
The FDC has commenced its internal process of candidate identification for this by-election. Once this process is concluded, the FDC will field a candidate to represent the interests of the people of Kikuube District.
We have called upon all interested FDC members and supporters within Kikuube District to formally express their interest in contesting for this seat. It is from among those who come forward that the party shall identify and present its flag bearer.
Beyond Kikuube, we are equally preparing ourselves for the LC1 Elections that are expected to take place soon.
- LABOUR DAY 2026: UGANDAN WORKERS DESERVE MORE THAN MEDALS AND SPEECHES
On Friday May 1st 2026, Ugandans joined workers across the country and the world in reflecting on the state of labour, the dignity of workers, and the obligations of government to those whose toil builds the nation.
The International Labour Day was born not from the goodwill of governments but from the blood and sacrifice of workers. It traces its origins to the 1886 labour movement in Chicago, where workers struck and died demanding a simple right: an eight-hour workday. From that struggle emerged a global movement that won workers the right to organise, the right to fair wages, safe working conditions, and protection from exploitation. That struggle is still work in progress in Uganda.
The celebrations in Buikwe District was not a celebration of workers, but the usual ritual of meet and greet of the NRM, totally detached from the intended Purpose. Medals were awarded. Officials praised each other. The trade union chairman thanked the President. Ministers described Museveni’s attendance as proof of his commitment to workers. And in the middle of all this self-congratulation, the real workers of Uganda, the Boda Boda rider, the factory worker, the market vendor, the nurse, the teacher, the casual labourer remained exactly where they were before the speeches started and a minimum wage a far fetched dream.
Thousands of young Ugandans graduate each year into an economy that has no place for them. Unable to find formal employment, they turn to the informal sector; the streets, the markets, the roadside stalls. They become vendors. They sell airtime, food, clothes, and goods on the pavements of our cities. This is not a failure of their vision.
And what has the government’s response been? To send police and city and town authority operatives to chase these young people off the streets without alternatives, without any relocation plan, without compensation, and certainly without shame.
There are two new Realities among Ugandan workers these days:
- If you want to get rich Fast, get a Government Job or position yourself near those in Government: Look around you. A civil servant who earns a government salary drives a car that no private sector worker at the same level can afford. Public workers properties that do not match their income. This is the corruption presided over by Mr. Museveni for the last 40 years
- “I am waiting for a deal.” “There is a ka-deal I am following.” “Let me sort this deal first.” The “deal economy” is not a joke. Its a shadow economy of informal arrangements, commissions, brokerage, and opportunistic transactions just to put food on the table.
Mr. Museveni who has presided over this reality cannot stand before workers on Labour Day and lecture them about vision and wealth creation. The vision is always there. It is the opportunity, the infrastructure, and the fairness that are lacking.
Mr. Museveni Saying that the Problem of workers in Uganda is not Jobs; that the Jobs are there but Ugandans are sleeping. This is a statement from a person who has lost touch with the reality. It’s an insult to hardworking Ugandans.
In fact, on various occasions, Mr. Museveni has Openly stated that if workers in Ugandan factories earn too much, investors will pack up and leave. He has effectively told Ugandans that their poverty is the price they have to pay in order to attract foreign capital.
Countries which have lifted their People out of poverty did so not by keeping workers poor to attract investors, but by investing in skills, infrastructure, and the productive capacity of their people.
Workers who earn better wages become consumers. Workers who consume drive domestic demand. Domestic demand creates more jobs. That is how economies grow.
The kind of investor that only comes to Uganda because wages are low and workers cannot organize is not a development partner but an exploiter.
We reject the idea that Ugandan workers must remain poor so that Uganda remains “attractive to Investors.”
In conclusion:
Labour Day must not be a day where the government officials celebrate while the worker who woke up at 5am, walked to the factory, earned a wage that cannot pay rent is expected to cheer.
Uganda’s workers are not lazy or lack vision. They lack a government that is accountable, honest, and genuinely committed to their welfare. They lack a minimum wage that reflects reality not the 6,000 per month of 1984. They lack protection from exploitation. They lack access to justice when their rights are violated. They lack a trade union movement that is truly independent and truly represents them.
FDC stands with every Ugandan worker. We stand with the teacher who has not received a salary enhancement in years. We stand with the nurse working in a hospital without drugs. We stand with the factory worker earning poverty wages while the investor is celebrated. We stand with the young graduate waiting for a “deal” because the economy has no space for their skills. We stand with the street vendor who was chased away from the only livelihood they had.
Workers deserve better than speeches, medals, and the same promises recycled every May 1st for forty years.
- WITHDRAW OF THE PROTECTION OF SOVEREIGNTY BILL.
Last week we made a presentation to the Joint Parliamentary Committees on Defense and Internal Affairs, and the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs of Parliament about the proposed Protection of Sovereignty Bill. We were pleased by Ugandans who came in large numbers to oppose this bill. Almost everyone who appeared in the committee had no views different from ours.
Mr. Museveni has now publicly declared that the Bill before Parliament “is not the Bill he initiated.”
If it is true that the Bill that was tabled in Parliament is not what he sanctioned, then this signals a very big Problem for which a number of questions can be asked; Who distorted the Bill? Who authorised its tabling in its current form? Who in the Attorney General’s office, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or in Cabinet is responsible for presenting to Parliament and the entire nation with a piece of legislation that its own initiator now disowns?
Secondly. the President publicly distancing himself from this Bill is a vote of no confidence in his own Attorney General and all those involved in its drafting and presentation. Any serious and accountable leader would hold those responsible to account in order to avoid any future re-occurrence of such.
We must also be clear on the process. The Bill was formally tabled before Parliament. Any denial or advice by the President should have taken the established procedures and not done on Social Media.
What has happened with this Bill is a demonstration of what Ugandans can achieve when they speak with one voice. Civil society, religious leaders, cultural leaders, economists, legal scholars, diaspora Ugandans, opposition parties, and ordinary citizens came together and rejected this Bill in overwhelming numbers. Over 90 percent of those who appeared before Parliament’s joint committees rejected it.
This government has now been forced to retreat and even denied themselves, that shows that when we stand together, we win. When Ugandans speak in unison, even this government cannot hold its ground. This is a virtue that we must carry forward to all aspects of governance of our country.
Parliament should listen to the voices of Ugandans and must therefore distance itself from any legislation that interferes with freedom of speech, freedom of association, political participation, or the fundamental rights of Ugandans granted to us by the Constitution. Parliament was not established to manufacture tools of oppression that protect the NRM to continue oppressing Ugandans but to create an environment conducive to fairly and progress of the nation.
We are now aware that the committees charged with criticizing the bill have overwhelmingly voted in favor of it and now the burden of passing it is left to the entire house. We call upon all Members of Parliament to reject any attempt to pass this Bill in its current form or in any amended form that continues to threaten the rights of Ugandans.
FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY
PATRICK OBOI AMURIAT
FDC PRESIDENT