By Hon. Natukunda B Innocent Rutekanga Apuuli
As Uganda approaches another election cycle, the youth must confront an undeniable truth: we have been deceived, exploited, and betrayed. For nearly four decades, Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has presided over a regime that has drained the dreams and strength of young people. The promises of transformation have turned into generational trauma. Any youth with a conscience, clarity of mind, and a belief in a better future cannot, in good faith, support Museveni.
Government programs paraded as empowerment tools—Emyooga, Parish Development Model, Youth Livelihood—have become hollow schemes, selectively benefiting regime loyalists while leaving the rest of the youth sidelined. These programs are not instruments of development but tools of political control. They reward submission, not innovation; allegiance, not ambition. Meanwhile, those truly in need are reduced to statistics and photo ops.
Uganda’s unemployment problem is not due to lack of jobs—it is due to deliberate exclusion. Positions of real influence, life-changing employment, and opportunities for upward mobility are often reserved for the connected elite. Recruitment in public institutions is riddled with nepotism, tribalism, and corruption. If you don’t know someone in the system, you simply don’t matter. A brilliant youth with degrees and vision is overlooked in favor of the mediocre but well-connected.
Even those fortunate to find work are paid criminally low wages. Teachers, nurses, and civil servants are paid far below what it takes to survive. The cost of living has skyrocketed—food, rent, school fees, and health care are out of reach for most. While the regime drowns in luxury—convoys, trips abroad, inflated budgets—the youth scrape by with no hope of savings, dignity, or security. We are a working poor nation, enslaved by a heartless system.
In developed and even some developing countries, the unemployed are protected through social welfare. Countries like Canada, Germany, South Africa, and Rwanda offer unemployment benefits. Uganda offers nothing. This is not because Uganda is poor—Uganda is rich in minerals, oil, fertile land, and a youthful population. But this wealth is looted by a corrupt elite, protected by the very institutions that should be defending public interest. Billions disappear each year, yet nothing is done. The corrupt are not punished—they are promoted.
This despair has forced many of our brothers and sisters into modern slavery. Uganda’s youth are fleeing—borrowing money, selling land, and risking everything to find work abroad, especially in the Middle East. What many find is exploitation, abuse, and even death. Yet the regime watches, facilitates more export deals, and brags about remittances as though we are commodities. A country that fails to protect its children at home and abroad has no moral legitimacy.
And yet, from this pain, a new dawn is rising. The youth are no longer voiceless. A new generation has found its voice in H.E. Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu—Araali—a son of the people, a man whose struggle is rooted in our everyday pain. He did not inherit power. He fought for it with sweat, blood, and courage. He was tortured, humiliated, and even nearly killed—but never silenced. His rise is our rise. His hope is our collective flame.
Robert Kyagulanyi is not just a political figure—he is a symbol of national awakening. He speaks the language of the streets, feels the heartbeat of the ghetto, and carries the burden of the young and voiceless. He is the embodiment of possibility. From the ghettos of Kamwokya to the hills of Kyenjojo, from the markets of Mbale to the lakeshores of Bunyoro, his name ignites purpose and power: People Power.
Under his leadership, the National Unity Platform (NUP) has become the vehicle of generational change. Young, focused, and people-driven, the NUP leadership is restoring integrity, patriotism, and unity to our politics. These are not career politicians chasing motorcades—they are visionaries fighting for justice, equal opportunity, and national renewal. Their commitment is not to power, but to the people.
To every young Ugandan: if you are tired of begging for scraps in a land full of riches, if you are tired of standing in line while others walk through side doors, if you are tired of carrying the burden of a failed system—stand with Kyagulanyi. Stand with NUP. This is not just an election—it is a revolution of values, a resurrection of dignity, and a rejection of fear.
Museveni’s time has expired. He is not just out of ideas—he is out of touch. He no longer sees the suffering faces in the slums, the hopelessness in classrooms, or the silence in hospitals. He has surrounded himself with sycophants and looters, far removed from the realities of Ugandan youth.
We, the youth, must now take back our country. Not with stones or blood, but with ballots and boldness. The future is ours. It belongs to dreamers, not dictators. To builders, not looters. To those who lead with love, not lies. And that future begins with rejecting Museveni and embracing the leadership of Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu and the National Unity Platform.
Uganda is not beyond repair. It is just waiting for the right generation to rise.
We are that generation.
We are that voice.
We are the future.
And our time is now. The writer is the team leader of NUP coordinators and mobilisers Tooro subregion
bnatukundainno@gmail.com.
