By KT Reporters
In order to increase coverage of his political campaigning activities for 2026, president Museveni has okayed a proposal by his head of press unit Sandor Walusimbi to work with the state house Comptroller and recruit more journalists to work under PPU.
This is supposed to strengthen and benefit both the President and vice president Jessica Alupo.
Sources say that Walusimbi has been given the budget to recruit those additional people and he has chosen to recruit through head hunting approach to avoid bringing in kawukumi who might jeopardise the big man’s publicity for the 2026 campaigns.
Walusimbi is already working with leading editors at the mainstream TV, Radio and print media houses to get suitable and energetic young people who have to be IT savvy, hardworking and able to write good content.
President Museveni is known for valuing publicity a lot and can’t take chances as 2026 comes around the corner. In his book, former press secretary Onapito Ekomoloit says that the President would quarrel and be very mad at him each time Kizza Besigye seemed to get better publicity for his campaign crowds than his.
Unlike 2021 when COVID made campaigning hard, for 2026 candidates will have to campaign openly and address rallies across the country and that exactly is what Museveni is preparing for by tasking Sandor Walusimbi to expand the PPU media team.
MORE WORK FOR FARUK KIRUNDA:
At the same time, Museveni has created a Nakalema-like unit which will be headed and coordinated by his blue-eyed boy Faruk Kirunda. He is already working with the state house Comptroller to make sure that the Secretariat is put in place and the necessary staff recruited.
This unit will be charged with coordinating and overseeing all the 2026 informal campaigning structures for the President whose mainstream campaign effort will be executed by Hadijjah Namyalo Uzeiye of the Kyambogo-based ONC.
Kirunda’s unit will focus on neutralising the opposition groups in politically unpredictable regions and sub regions of Uganda like Busoga, West Nile, Kasese, Bunyoro, Kampala Metropolitan districts and parts of Kigezi where Kizza Besigye is believed to still have influence.
The same unit will also coordinate high level defections from Bobi Wine’s NUP in especially Buganda and Busoga which Kyagulanyi won in 2021. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
