Drama in Mubende, more than 150 people who had recently crossed from the National Unity Platform (NUP) to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) have staged a swift return to NUP, accusing government officials of deception and broken promises.
The group, largely made up of ghetto youths, hawkers and boda boda riders, said they rejoined NUP on Monday shortly after the State Minister for Youth and Children Affairs, Balaam Barugahara, left a meeting they had been summoned to.
According to the returnees, they were persuaded to abandon NUP after being promised facilitation and financial support. However, tempers flared when the minister reportedly left without addressing them or offering any form of assistance.
An angry crowd later declared that they had been misled and lied to, insisting that none of the promises used to lure them into the ruling party were fulfilled.
“We were deceived,” some of the youths said, explaining that frustration and a sense of betrayal pushed them back to NUP.
Earlier, Balaam had announced that the group had defected to NRM after, in his view, being misled by the opposition party led by Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine.
“This morning, I received 150 converts from NUP and other political parties in Mubende Municipality on behalf of the NRM and the Government of Uganda,” Balaam wrote on his X platform. “These young people had been misled, but I am glad they have now seen the light.”
The dramatic reversal has reignited debate in Mubende over political mobilisation methods, particularly the targeting of unemployed youths and workers in the informal sector.
