By KT Reporter
The politics of poverty reduction, or what President Museveni has generally described as wealth creation, has emerged as an election issue, as reflected by the election manifestos of most of the Presidential candidates. The politics of poverty reduction are characterised by contestation and ambiguity.
If the voter were to take the issue of how each of the candidates promises to tackle poverty, then the candidate with the winning manifesto would win the vote in the statehouse after the elections.
The World Bank’s Uganda Poverty and Equity Brief: October 2025 said, “The latest available poverty estimates from the Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS) 2019/20 showed a poverty rate of 20.3 percent as measured by the national poverty line. Though the economy is projected to continue growing by 6.2 percent in 2025 and 2026, and accelerate to 10.4 percent in 2027.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index Report 2022 –the first official national Multidimensional Poverty Index for Uganda said about 27% of the population is multidimensionally poor, but not monetarily poor.
The findings revealed marked geographical disparities in poverty across subnational levels in Uganda. It highlights that, nationally, poverty is largely driven by the living standards dimension. The index was calculated using 12 indicators grouped under four dimensions: education, health, living standards, employment, and financial inclusion.
Uganda Radio Network has had access to the Manifestos of some of the Presidential candidates for the 2026 election. What are the candidates promising on wealth creation?
Museveni and the NRM Manifesto President Museveni, just like in the past election campaigns, has made pledges towards wealth creation, building on his initial Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). PEAP has been followed by other anti-poverty interventions introduced during the campaign seasons.
The National Resistance Movement (NRM) and its presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni, have promised to maintain the existing programmes, with plans to widen some and also create more.
The NRM candidate promises to introduce a new scheme, which he said was proposed years back, but failed to push through for various reasons. According to the party Manifesto, university graduates who spend at least two years before getting employment will benefit from this Startup Fund.
This is aimed at enabling the young graduates to start their own business ventures and reduce unemployment.
The NRM also promises funds for empowering boda-boda riders through capitalizing their savings and credit associations. Museveni, who gave ten billion shillings to riders in Kampala, said this will be extended to cover the whole country, targeting boda-boda SACCOs.
Youth living in poor neighborhoods of cities, referred to as the ghetto in Kampala, have already benefited from a similar intervention. Museveni promises to expand it throughout the country.
Before the last campaigns, Museveni promised to fund and roll out the Parish Development Model (PDM). The Parish Development Model (PDM) is intended to increase household incomes and improve the quality of life of Ugandans by transitioning subsistence-level households into the money economy.
In the NRM manifesto, it promises to extend PDM to the fishing communities by offering one million shillings per beneficiary.
The manifesto proposes a separate fund for the fishermen, processors, and traders. The NRM will also say it will expand PDM, with UGX 15 million per parish per year to include elected political leaders.
The changes in PDM will also involve an increase of UGX 500,000 for households led by persons with disabilities. There is also a planned fund to boost value addition for PDM products for market purposes.
A special fund will also be created to benefit religious and cultural leaders, who have also been instrumental in mobilising the masses for the wealth funds.
For low-income groups, like private guards, have been planned for under the Emyooga fund, which was also planned to boost micro, small, and medium enterprises, while the NRM also plans to further capitalise the Uganda Police SACCO and the District SACCOs for the graduates of the Presidential Industrial Hubs and Skilling Centres.
Mugisha Muntu / ANT Manifesto
The Alliance for National Transformation (ANT), whose candidate is Gregg Mugisha Muntu, has not yet decided whether it will maintain the current interventions, most of which were established to counter the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The party manifesto says that within the first three months of being elected, “a multi-stakeholder national dialogue on post-COVID recovery programmes will be conducted, to review the status and results” of the current interventions.
This will then help Gen. Muntu’s government to map out strategies “to get the country moving again,” according to the manifesto.
The party, however, has specific interventions planned to strengthen “the social action fund”, including increasing the monthly stipend that is given out to the elderly, as well as widening the area coverage of the fund to cover the country.
Currently, the government pays a monthly UGX 25,000 to older persons, and ANT says that they will add medical insurance through a “voucher system” for those persons aged 70 or more.
The party also plans a stimulus package to revive the education investments. It notes that many schools closed down or were sold off while others are still struggling after the COVID-19-induced lockdowns devastated their revenues.
This will be done through interest-free loans through UDB, with long repayment terms. This will be in addition to supporting citizen-owned enterprises with “adequate capital”.
Robert Kyagulanyi/ NUP Manifesto
The Manifesto of the National Unity Platform of musician-cum politician, Robert Kyagulanyi, promises the Creative Industries Fund. This, according to the NUP, will support musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers, visual artists, and cultural entrepreneurs.t
It says that the fund will build necessary infrastructure, provide grants, low-interest loans, and capacity-building support to grow Uganda’s creative economy.
On the farmer’s financial challenges, the party plans to “reestablish farmer cooperatives,” as it was before the 1990s, to drive production and marketing.
“We will re-establish and modernise farmer cooperatives as engines of agricultural transformation and rural prosperity. These cooperatives will give smallholder farmers collective power to access affordable credit, quality inputs, modern machinery, and fair markets,” the party says, hoping that this will help weed out middlemen in the value chain.
The campaign document also proposes plans to empower youth in agriculture through various initiatives, including providing startup grants and incentives, “that position young Ugandans as leaders in modern agriculture.”
Nathan Nandala / Forum for Democratic Change The FDC Secretary General has presented putting money into the pockets of Ugandans as the main objective of the party, should it be trusted with power to lead the country.
Contrary to what the NRM plans for graduates, the FDC says it will create a national youth grant scheme of UGX 1 million for each graduate under 30, while at least 10 percent of all government contracts will be offered to youth-owned enterprises.
The party also plans to have a boda-boda savings and protection cooperative scheme, but does not mention the amounts involved.
According to the manifesto, the social assistance grants for the elderly (SAGE) will be adjusted to see that everyone aged 65 years or more gets a monthly stipend of UGX 60,000, compared to the current UGX 25,000
FDC, which accuses the government of a panicky introduction of the PDM and therefore mishandling the initiative, says it will give UGX 100 million per village and not per parish as it is today.
It also promises to provide for the formation of leadership SACCOs at parish, sub-country, and district levels and give UGX 100 million to the parish leadership SACCO, which will be composed of all the village and the parish executive, and the parish chief.
The sub-county leadership SACCO, made up of all sub-county councilors, the LC3 Chairperson, and the sub-county chief, will get UGX 100 million per year, while the district SACCO, featuring all district councilors, the LC V chairperson, the RDCs, the staff and officers at the district, will get UGX 500 million each.
Other special packages include providing “cheap capital with minimal collateral requirement” for women and the removal of “gendered barriers to entrepreneurship” by implementing affirmative action policies in the disbursement of all government grants, procurement, and support services towards inclusive business growth.
Kasibante’s Peasant Party “When voted my government will ensure every unemployed citizen receives UGX 200,000 monthly, a lifeline of dignity, stability, and opportunity, a bridge to productive work,” has been the slogan for Robert Kasibante’s National Peasants’ Party.
The National Unemployment Support Plan of the NPP is aimed at ensuring that “no Ugandan should go to bed hungry simply because they lack a job.”
With no clear definition of an unemployed Ugandan, it would be hard to tell how much this would cost the Peasant’s Party.
This will be followed by the provision of free education at the university level, a move that would help families afford school fees while stimulating local economic activity.
He accuses the current government of giving out capital to people without proper training. Kasibante says he will also give out capital for startups, but first, his government will train the people before providing capital. If they still manage the capital, he says, they will still benefit from the monthly UGX 200,000.
Asked about how he hopes to raise the funds to support his plans, Kasibante talks of weeding out corruption, reducing the size of the parliament, and cutting the number of presidential appointees.
Views and plans by Common Man’s Party of Munyagwa Mubarak, Bulira Frank Kabinga’s Revolutionary People’s Party, as well as the Conservative Party of Joseph Mabirizi, were not available.
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