By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
KAMPALA
Youth in Uganda have called out the involvement of the police and the military in the country’s electoral processes, citing disruption of political order, loss of trust, and confidence in the election and electoral regulatory body.
This was during the youth dialogue on the 2026 general election in Uganda organized by African Youth Development Link (AYDL) held at Hotel Africana Kampala on Wednesday. During the dialogue, the youth asked the Electoral Commission to ensure that the army stays away from interfering with electoral processes in future. The youth also demanded affirmative action to address election financing to allow vulnerable youth to contest for political positions.
“The state of the economy in this country has a direct implication on how young people are going to participate in politics. Look at the amount of money required for nomination to become a member of parliament even when they are cognizant of the fact that the playing field is not leveled,” said Moses Kidega, the Secretary in charge of labour at National Youth Council.
Kidega implored the youth use their different front lines to speak out and challenge the status quo to make things work better for them in this country.
In response, Barbra Mulimira, the District Returning Officer for Kampala and representative from EC attributed the military’s involvement to unrest caused by misguided youth, urging peaceful collaboration for safety during elections.
The dialogue revealed a low number of youth contesting for elective positions, prompting calls for increased participation in active politics and governance.
Julius Mucunguzi, spokesperson for the Independent Electoral Commission of Uganda, emphasized the importance of local level participation.
“It’s important that the young people take interest in all levels of our governance. We have abandoned the local level participations, we don’t want to be LC1 chairpersons, we don’t want to be on the local councils. We want the big ones yet the real spaces where change or transformation that you may want starts at the local level”, said Julius Mujurizi, the spokesperson of Independent Electoral Commission of Uganda.
Additionally, Dr. Byonabye Kamadi, Director of Research Education and Documentation at Uganda Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) encouraged youth to focus on political ideologies rather than being diverted by the generation of old leaders who allege that they are inexperienced to charge of national leadership.
“The youth must learn to conquer fear. We have some old leaders who allege that the youth are inexperienced, but the constitution says if you are above 18years, you’re eligible to contest for any political position. So, take advantage because that is an opportunity for you”, Dr. Kamadi
Dr. Kamadi also condemned vote rigging, including the use of underage voters, urging the Electoral Commission to address this issue before the 2026 elections.
“We have seen the youth who are mobilized to vote when they are not eligible, this is criminal and we do not want to see this happening again,” he said.
The youth dialogue is organized by AYDL and other stakeholders with the aim to discuss youth participation in the 2026 General Election in Uganda. The dialogue is part of the broader nationally-driven efforts to promote free, fair, and elections through effective youth participation.
