Dec 12, 2025 (Nile Post/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) --
After days of traversing the Tooro sub-region, National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi on Thursday shifted his campaign momentum to the Rwenzori region, rallying supporters in Bundibugyo and Ntoroko districts ahead of the January 15, 2026 elections.
Kyagulanyi entered the region through Fort Portal City, before navigating the steep escarpments and winding roads toward Ntoroko in a journey he likened to "the difficult path Ugandans have endured under the current leadership."
He criticised government for neglecting the region's economic potential, pointing to Bundibugyo and Ntoroko's reputation as major cocoa producers yet lacking even a single processing factory.
"It surprises me that Bundibugyo and Ntoroko, some of Uganda's biggest cocoa producers, have no processing factory--not even one that can produce simple products like chocolate. This is the kind of neglect we want to end," he told supporters.
Crowds lined the roads as Kyagulanyi's convoy moved from Fort Portal through Harugongo, Rwebisengo and into Karugutu Town, with traders abandoning shops and bodaboda riders revving motorcycles in support.
The scenes mirrored the energetic receptions he received earlier in the week in Kyenjojo and Kyegegwa.
Addressing residents in Karugutu Trading Centre, Kyagulanyi cast the 2026 election as a contest between generations.
"This is a contest between those clinging to the old order to protect their gains, and young Ugandans who believe in a new Uganda--fair, just and inclusive," he said.
He also highlighted persistent land disputes in Ntoroko and Bundibugyo, an issue that has sparked community conflict for years.
"Land grabbing has broken families, displaced communities and stripped people of dignity. We cannot talk about development while the people remain landless. We shall end these injustices," he said.
Kyagulanyi promised that an NUP government would prioritise agro-processing industries, stronger protection of community land rights and the revival of public services in what he branded "long-forgotten districts."
He is expected to continue his Rwenzori mobilisation with a rally scheduled in Kasese District tomorrow. Supporters said the campaign messages and music-filled processions have energised them to maintain momentum.
The Rwenzori leg of Kyagulanyi's campaign remains one of the most emotionally charged yet, with communities demanding solutions to decades-old challenges of poverty, land tension and underdevelopment.
COMTEX_471046245/2029/2025-12-12T19:32:27
by Fahad Masereka
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