NUP Candidate Joins NRM, Withdraws from Bugahya Parliamentary Race

Allan Clifford Tugume, a candidate for the Bugahya County parliamentary seat in Hoima District, has defected from the National Unity Platform (NUP) to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) and withdrawn from the race. 

Tugume announced his decision on Thursday, declaring that he had crossed to the NRM and would no longer contest for the Bugahya County MP seat. 

Speaking during President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s campaign rally at Hoima Boma Grounds in Hoima, Tugume said he had taken a personal decision after realising that remaining in NUP would endanger his future. He also demanded an immediate meeting with President Museveni to discuss the issues that had originally pushed him into the opposition.  

The Speaker of Parliament, Annet Anita Among, told the crowd that senior NRM leaders had engaged Tugume and persuaded him to abandon the opposition, a move he eventually accepted.   

Hoima District NRM Chairperson, Vincent Muhumuza Savana, applauded Tugume for crossing over, noting that the NRM remains the only party with a clear vision and inclusiveness. 

Tugume’s withdrawal leaves two candidates in the Bugahya County parliamentary race: the incumbent and NRM flag bearer, Pius Wakabi Rujumba, and Herbert Kato Kefa of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT).