Ugandans rally for change as Presidential election set for January 15, 2026

As Uganda prepares for its presidential election on January 15, 2026, large crowds have taken to the streets around Kampala in support of opposition leader and presidential hopeful, Bobi Wine.

Wine is challenging long-time President Yoweri Museveni, who has governed Uganda since 1986 after repeatedly altering constitutional rules to extend his rule.

Protesters say they want a new direction for the country, Africa news reports.

Museveni is running for a seventh term after the removal of presidential term and age limits — a move that has alarmed many Ugandans.

Human rights organisations, including Amnesty International, have condemned the actions of Uganda’s police and military, describing their use of tear gas, beatings and other forms of violence against opposition supporters as part of a “brutal campaign of repression” ahead of the elections.

Wine has denounced these tactics and claimed that security forces have detained dozens of his supporters. “Dozens of our comrades are missing now,” he said, urging vigilance among his followers but asserting that “they cannot abduct all of us. The jails are already full and we are still millions of change-seeking Ugandans out there.”

The National Unity Platform (NUP), Wine’s political party, also says that arbitrary arrests at its rallies have led to the imprisonment of many supporters in the run-up to the election.

Protesters are calling for change; among them is Ruth Excellent Mirembe, who said “I was born after he (President Museveni) had been here for 15 years, and almost 26 plus years (later), he’s still president, and he still wants presidency! We have not had a president who is going to represent our core values as the youth.

He has represented his generation, but we are lacking representation as Gen Z or as millennials, who were born way after he was an adult.”

Museveni is seeking a seventh term in these elections. Term and age limits have been done away with and rivals imprisoned or sidelined, much to the dismay of demonstrators.

Speaking at an opposition rally, Conrad Olwenyi said, “we are now the grandsons of Museveni. Forty years in power, without anything. When you go to the hospitals, there’s no medication, there’s no school, there’s no everything. Now, the money that we are earning, the small living, tax is too much, and everything is going beyond our understanding. We can no longer feed our own selves!”

Wine has also condemned the use of force against those attending opposition rallies.

“Dozens of our comrades are missing now. They’ve been picked up from their houses and we don’t know where they’ve been taken. We continue to encourage them (his supporters, ed) to be vigilant and look out for each other. But again, I say this without fear of contradiction, that they cannot abduct all of us. The jails are already full and we are still millions of change-seeking Ugandans out there,” he said.

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