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TORORO – The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has taken the lead in the parliamentary and presidential campaigns in Tororo North and South constituencies, with residents rallying behind President Yoweri Museveni in what party leaders describe as a show of appreciation.
The surge in NRM support follows President Museveni’s decision last year to resolve a two-decade political dispute between Tororo County and West Budama by creating three new districts: Mukuju, Nagongera and Mulanda, alongside Tororo city.
The move has triggered defections from the Opposition, particularly in Tororo South, as residents say it is time to reward the President and government for what they call a “rightful decision.”
On January 6, 2026, the NRM Tororo district leadership opened a new party office at Mukuju County headquarters, the proposed district headquarters, shifting from Tororo Municipality to strengthen grassroots mobilisation.
District branch chairperson Godfrey Othieno Otabong said the office would help mobilise voters to deliver over 90% support for President Museveni and all NRM flag bearers by countering “long-term opposition negative propaganda.”
In Tororo South, incumbent MP and NRM flag bearer Fredrick Angura has capitalised on government programmes such as rural electrification, piped water extension, construction of seed secondary schools, improved health services and the Parish Development Model to outpace his rivals.
Angura is facing Alex Opua Emungas, an independent he defeated in the primaries, Wilson Okachuga, and Eunice Namisi.
Emungas said he would lobby for scholarships and introduce poverty-alleviation programmes under his slogan “Kabarata kere” meaning “let us all get rich.” Okachuga pledged to use part of his salary to support school feeding programmes and lobby for a sugar factory to create jobs, while Namisi, a three-time contestant, promised to prioritise education and healthcare.
In Tororo North, NRM flag-bearer Simon Nicholas Owino, a businessman mentored by Angura, has unsettled his rivals, incumbent MP Geoffrey Ekanya of the Forum for Democratic Change and former MP Annet Nyaketcho Amella, now an independent.
The two have formed an informal alliance, urging voters to back either of them but not Owino, whom they describe as “young and inexperienced.”