NUP Acholi Coordinator Defects To NRM

The National Unity Platform (NUP) party Coordinator for the Acholi Sub-region, Brian Jakisa Mungu, has defected to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party along with 36 other members.

Mungu announced his defection on Wednesday during President Yoweri Museveni’s campaign rally at Kaunda Parade Grounds in Gulu City.

The group of youthful defectors, allegedly comprising NUP district registrars, coordinators, and mobilizers from Gulu City and neighboring districts, was officially received by President Museveni in the presence of senior NRM leaders.

Speaking shortly after his defection, Mungu said his decision followed “a careful analysis” of what he described as NUP’s lack of a clear agenda for youth empowerment and meaningful political direction.

Mungu claimed that the opposition party doesn’t have anything for the young people and is full of “excitement”.

“We are fighting for leadership, but we are seeing only excitement in the opposition. We don’t want excitement; Uganda will not be ruled by excitement. We want leadership, and we have seen that leadership is what President Museveni is bringing,” Mungu said.

He explained that while joining the ruling NRM may not solve all the challenges facing Uganda’s youth, it provides a better opportunity to influence change from within government structures.

“Crossing to NRM doesn’t absolutely resolve everything, but it’s better for us to fight for our space from inside the ruling government. How do you want to be heard when you are speaking from outside the fence?”

Mungu, who has been an active member of the party since its inception as the People Power movement, also revealed that his time in the opposition came at a personal cost.

“By being in NUP, I lost everything. I have been arrested and detained countless times by police, and the party has done nothing for me. Many of our colleagues are still in jail, some have died, and others are in exile because of the same excitement,” he lamented.

Another defector, Kelvin Alioda, said she joined NUP initially out of hope for change but became disillusioned over time, claiming that the party’s leadership was “using the youth for hidden agendas.”

“As young people, we thought NUP would give us a voice. But we later realized we were being manipulated. I am tired of hiding and running from security personnel. I want freedom,” Alioda said.

However, the NUP leadership in the north downplayed the defection, describing it as “long anticipated.”

Caesar Rubangakene, the NUP Deputy Spokesperson for Northern Uganda, said the party wasn’t surprised by Mungu’s decision to cross to the ruling party, noting that suspicions about his loyalty had been growing for months.

Mungu’s defection comes barely a month after NUP denied him the party flag for the Bardege-Layibi Division Parliamentary seat, instead choosing Robinson Akera as its official candidate in the upcoming general elections.

This isn’t the first time a member of NUP from the sub-region has defected. In 2020, Bosmic Joyce Otim, a renowned musician and a vocal mobilizer for the People Power movement, also defected to the ruling NRM party.

The NRM leadership in Gulu and at the national level praised the defectors for what they described as a patriotic decision, which reflects growing public confidence in the ruling party’s agenda for youth inclusion.

The defection comes amid an intensified NRM campaign drive in the Acholi Sub-region, where Museveni has promised to strengthen industrialization, promote commercial agriculture, and enhance youth livelihood programs.