As the campaigns for the Uganda general elections in February hots up, Kenyan youths have launched an unprecedented campaign group to rally Ugandans behind the re-election of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda.
The youths who term themselves as the East African Friends of Museveni launched their Kenyan chapter of the campaign in a Bungoma Hotel Sunday afternoon.
Led by their secretary Hezekiah Kosgey and patron James Weindaba, the over 100 youths who were drawn from North Rift and the former Western province said they have decided to join in the campaign for the re-election of the long-serving president of Uganda for the sake of stability and achievement of the East African community.
Kosgey said that the youths of this country see president Museveni as a father figure of leaders in the region and therefore have decided to rally behind him to ensure that he is re-elected and later on becomes the first president of the East African community after he ends his term in 2021.
“It is with our zeal and our numbers that today we are launching the East African Friends of Museveni Kenya chapter here in Bungoma and in one week or so we shall be launching the Rwanda chapter then Burundi chapter and then Tanzania chapter before we all from the East African nations join our fellow youths to converge in Uganda to start a thorough campaign,” said the secretary of the group.
He said then the youths from the five nations shall start a thorough campaign to spend sleepless nights, walk hills and valleys to persuade Ugandans to vote and re-elect President Museveni.
He acknowledged the fact that Ugandans have their constitutional right to vote for whoever leader they want but in the same breath said that the East African Friends of Museveni shall use their persuasiveness talk to them and ensure they vote Museveni.
He said that it was a privilege to the people of Bungoma to be the first county to launch such an unprecedented campaign for a re-election of a President of a foreign country in Kenya and in the world whereby they exuded confidence that their team shall deliver another term for Museveni in power after the February elections.
They further touched on the expansive stretch of The Bamasaba people who cut across the border on the Kenyan and Ugandan sides and the Sebei’s in Trans Nzoia and Pokot parts of Kenya who have relatives across as one of the factors that bond them together hence fight for a similar course.
The youths further pointed out that since president Museveni took power in 1986, Uganda has become a stable country that has seen many Kenyan youths study in Uganda among other activities that bond them with Ugandans.
Kosgey said Museveni’s re-election means a full realization of the east African community that will see the region make one big nation.
To rally one million youths for the campaign
The y said they are now seeking for clearance from their respective countries to ensure that the one million youths that they have targeted in the regional countries get access to Uganda to start the campaigns for President Museveni.
The youths when asked as to why they want to support the re-election of President Museveni who is seen as elderly and have taken long in power yet Kenyan youths yearn for youthful leaders, said they realized that all the major candidates in the presidential campaign for Uganda are nearly of the same age and therefore they chose to support the incumbent.
“After the launches in all the East African countries we shall then go to Kampala to start the campaigns and therefore we are seeking for clearance from our countries to be cleared to enter Uganda to start our official campaign,” the secretary said.
The move by the youths in the region to join President Museveni’s campaign trail seems to confirm how tight and stiff next year’s elections in Uganda are such that Museveni for the first time is seeking political support from across the region to be re-elected.
However the youths claimed to be using their own resources and those from friends across the region saying they have no particular sponsor that is funding the move.
Museveni who got to power in 1986 is facing a tough opposition from his former allies turned foes Dr. Kizza Besiggye and Amama Mbabazi who have launched a serious onslaught to oust him from power for 29 years.
