NUP Electoral Committee to Start Vetting Parliamentary Aspirants

The National Unity Platform’s Election Management Committee has announced that it will kick off the vetting process for parliamentary party flag bearers starting next week.      

The vetting exercise, which assesses candidates based on a two-tier process, with 40% of their score coming from performance before vetting committees and 60% from grassroots consultations, seeks to ensure the party’s representation in the 2026 general elections is comprised of the most qualified candidates.        

However, the commission’s recent vetting of local government positions was criticised for corruption, unfairness, and incompetence.   While addressing Journalists at the Party Headquarters located in Kavule, the committee chairperson, Harriet Chemutai, said the vetting will kick off on 15th September and will end on 21st September.  

“The vetting will start from 8:00 AM, here at the party head offices, before we conduct the grassroots process. All candidates carry along with them, the expression of interest forms we gave them, National IDs, party membership cards, Original and or certified academic documents.” Chemutai said.  

According to the vetting program, the process will commence on the 15th with Wakiso district, West Nile, and Kigezi region, followed by Kampala district, Acholi, and Ankole regions.

Greater Masaka, Lango, and Tooro will undergo vetting on the 17th. This will be followed by Greater Mpigi, Karamoja, and Bunyoro on the 18th and Greater Mukono, Sebei, Teso, and Rwenzori on the 19th.  

The vetting schedule concludes with Greater Mubende, Bugisu, on the 20th, followed by the Greater Luwero and Busoga on 21st September. Chemutai has urged all prospective NUP MPs to ensure they have all the required documents ready as they show up to avoid wastage of time.

John Mary Ssebuufu, Central Region Committee Coordinator, urged NUP members who failed to secure party cards to refrain from running as independents.   “We’re all in this together to remove the current regime, back your colleagues who succeeded, and if you didn’t, remember that patience is key in our struggle. The process was fair and open; at the end of it all, one person had to come out as the flag winner. Unity is our strength, let’s not destroy each other.” Ssebuufu said.   

Ssebuufu lamented the arrest and remanding of NUP aspirants, including Alex Mufumbiro, who is in Luzira Prison, noting that this is happening at a critical time when the vetting process is set to kick off.