MUSEVENI TELLS ADJUMANI VOTERS TO PUT HOUSEHOLD INCOMES AHEAD OF INFRASTRUCTURE

President Museveni handing over the NRM flag to the party flagbearer Leku James Pilli for the Adjumani West bye election slated for Thursday September 17, 2026.

PML DAILY

President Yoweri Museveni has asked voters in Adjumani West County to back the National Resistance Movement (NRM) candidate, James Pilli Leku, in Thursday’s parliamentary by-election, saying unity is essential for peace and development.

Museveni spoke at a campaign rally at Padiri Stadium in Adjumani Town Council on Tuesday. Before the rally, he laid a wreath at the grave of Gen Moses Ali at Taqwa Mosque.

The by-election, set for 17 September 2026, follows the death of Gen Moses Ali, the former First Deputy Prime Minister, who represented the constituency. He died on 18 July 2026 at Nakasero Hospital in Kampala.

“I’m here to beg you to support Leku because he is the one who will support NRM, and I thank all the others who have supported him,” Museveni said.

He welcomed the decision by Ben Anyama to drop out and back Leku. Leku narrowly beat Anyama in the NRM primary, with 9,336 votes to Anyama’s 9,152.

“I ask my supporters and the supporters of other candidates, for the sake of peace and unity, to rally behind the NRM candidate and cooperate,” Museveni said. He added that Leku, a former Adjumani District chairperson, had worked closely with the NRM and would be able to coordinate with government programmes.

Roads, schools and power

Museveni pointed to government spending on roads in West Nile. “Instead of war, we now have tarmacked roads from Kampala to Nimule,” he said.

He said the Laropi–Moyo road and the proposed Laropi Bridge still needed government attention, and he mentioned the upgrading of the Nebbi–Gulu road. The Laropi Bridge, which would cross the Nile between Adjumani and Moyo districts, was a leading campaign issue in the NRM primaries.

On education, Museveni compared Adjumani today with his own school years. “In 1961, I went to Ntare School, and we had a boy from Adjumani. Not a single A-Level secondary school was here by that time. We had only six secondary schools in Uganda by that time, but we now have 11 secondary schools in Adjumani District,” he said.

He said electricity now reaches Adjumani and runs from Lira through Pakwach and Arua to Koboko.

‘Development is for your house’

Museveni said infrastructure alone should not be taken as the measure of development, and he urged residents to concentrate on raising household incomes.

“There is a difference between development and wealth,” he said. “The tarmac road is for all of us, but development is for your house. Let’s divert some money from roads, schools and health centres to the Parish Development Model (PDM) because PDM addresses development.”

He said some households could not afford basic items such as sugar or proper bedsheets, which he said showed why household wealth creation should be a priority.

Defections

The NRM vice-chairperson for Northern Region, Denis Hamson Obua, presented a group of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and National Unity Platform (NUP) members who said they had joined the NRM.

The FDC group was led by Patrick Tandrupasi, who withdrew from the by-election and declared his support for Leku. Tandrupasi finished second to Gen Moses Ali in the seat in the 2026 general election, with 11,770 votes to Ali’s 12,854.

The NRM secretary general, Richard Todwong, said the defections showed the party was growing stronger in West Nile. He praised the peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities in Adjumani, saying the two populations are almost equal in size.

He urged local leaders to keep their supporters disciplined and to back Leku. Todwong also congratulated Museveni on turning 82.

The NRM chairperson for Adjumani District, Charles Anzo Akuku, credited Museveni with the peace and security in the country and urged voters to join government wealth-creation programmes. He asked the President to support construction of the Laropi Bridge and to consider upgrading Adjumani Town Council to a municipality.

The rally was attended by MPs, religious and cultural leaders, NRM supporters and residents.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis