With just days to go before the presidential election scheduled for January 15, 2026, protests are escalating in Uganda. Hundreds of demonstrators, mostly young people, have taken to the streets of Kampala to express their support for Bobi Wine, the leading figure of the opposition, and to demand an end to the long rule of President Yoweri Museveni, who has been in power since 1986.

For many of these protesters, the outgoing president embodies a rigid power structure, disconnected from the aspirations of young people. Eighty-one-year-old Yoweri Museveni is seeking another term, a candidacy that has sparked weariness and anger among young people who have known only his regime.

“ I was born long after he came to power, and he’s still president. We young people have never had a leader who truly represents us ,” says Ruth Excellent Mirembe, a supporter of Bobi Wine, denouncing the lack of political renewal.

Criticism also extends to the country’s socio-economic situation. Many protesters cite precarious living conditions, a lack of social infrastructure, and the tax burden. " After nearly forty years in power, nothing has changed. Hospitals lack medicine, schools are failing, and our meager incomes are heavily taxed ," laments Conrad Olwenyi, a carpenter, expressing the frustration of a population struggling with the high cost of living.

In this tense climate, opposition leader Bobi Wine denounces increasing repression against his supporters. He claims that several activists have been arbitrarily arrested or have disappeared. “ Dozens of our comrades have been abducted, and we don’t know where they are. But we remain mobilized. They cannot stop an entire people seeking change ,” he declared, calling on his supporters to remain vigilant.

These accusations are corroborated by Amnesty International, which recently denounced acts of torture and arbitrary arrests attributed to Ugandan security forces against the opposition.

As the presidential election approaches, these demonstrations reflect a deep yearning for change, driven in particular by a youth determined to break with several decades of governance by the same regime.