Bobi Wine in marathon campaign tours ahead of 2026 polls

Uganda's main opposition leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu popularly known as Bobi Wine has started early preparations for the country's next presidential elections with a nationwide mobilisation tour.

The elections scheduled to be held between January 12 and February 9, 2026, are more than two years away but it appears Wine is not taking any chances.

He has lined up a series of mobilisation tours across the country which will be coupled with the opening of new offices for the National Unity Platform party on whose ticket he would likely be seeking the top seat. 

The first phase of the mobilisation tours started on August 28 and will run until September 13 across 10 districts.

"We shall go out to address our people physically and on media houses, and officially open our offices," Wine said in a statement on August 23.

The start of the tours came at the end of a two-day retreat of the National Executive Committee of the National Unity Platform party.

"We had initially planned to be in more than one district on Wednesday and Thursday, but due to public demand that we give a day to each district, we are postponing Soroti and Gulu to the next phase of our tour which will be announced soon," Wine said in a statement.

Wine is likely to face President Yoweri Museveni again in the next elections. At the time Museveni will have been at the helm for exactly 40 years.

His son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who at some point announced his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election, has been thought of by some observers as a possible replacement for his father at the polls.

In a tweet early this year which he later deleted, Muhoozi said "it was "time for our generation to shine". 

"In the name of Jesus Christ my God, in the name of all the youth of Uganda and the world and in the name of our great revolution, I will run for president in 2026," Muhoozi Kainerugaba wrote on Twitter, now known as X.

Museveni, 78, has ruled Uganda with an iron fist since 1986 when he toppled former President Milton Obote. 

He has all through the subsequent elections been his party National Resistance Movement's only candidate in elections that have often been disputed by his opponents. 

Museveni won the disputed January 2021 elections with 58.64 per cent of the vote and extended his reign to 35 years.

Wine, who garnered 3.48 million votes or 34.83 per cent, alleged fraud and urged citizens to reject the result.