Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers have been implicated in the alleged removal of posters belonging to the National Unity Platform (NUP) candidates in Entebbe as mobilization for the party starts taking shape towards the 2026 polls.
While addressing journalists at a press conference on Tuesday in Entebbe, the NUP leadership in Entebbe revealed that soldiers are allegedly hired by members of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) to remove opposition candidates posters in the municipality.
Ms Lilliane Babirye who is contesting for the Member of Parliament position on the NUP ticket said the soldiers together with NRM are, “Trying to put an image out there and people arriving in the country that NRM is the only party existing in Entebbe which is totally wrong, yet you remove our posters that we have pinned across the municipality”.
Ms Babirye warned that the party will be forced to deface posters of NRM candidates if the army allegedly doesn’t desist from removing the posters.
“We are going to rally the people of Entebbe to pick tins of paint and paint all your posters black if this vice does not stop, men in uniform should not get involved in partisan politics”.
The Entebbe Division B chairperson Mr Richard Sekyondo said their mobilization efforts have allegedly been suffocated by the military personnel and urged the military personnel to act professionally.
“When they get these people who are drunkard, they force them to climb the trees, the electric poles, to remove the banners and the posters, which is very dangerous. So I’m here by appealing to all leaders, the cultural leaders, the religious leaders, the freedom fighters, the Uganda Human Rights Commission, even the electoral commission, please pick interest in our campaign. In Entebbe, it’s like an island where the army does the things as they wish” he said.
Mr Mugabi John Socrates noted that as political players in Entebbe, they are observing an alleged injustice from the men in uniform.
“What is happening in Entebbe is unfair, it is un injustice, it’s unthinkable in the 21st century, where a registered political party which is peacefully aspiring to develop and also change the country is being suffocated. Candidates can’t put posters up, yet the ruling party is putting up posters.
Efforts to get comment from the UPDF Director of Defence Public Information (DDPI) Major General Felix Kulayigye and Entebbe NRM chairperson Mr Stephen Kabuye, were futile by the time of this publication.
