Earlier today, the Uganda Police Force (UPF) moved swiftly to block the National Unity Platform (NUP) from launching its much-anticipated “Youth Protest Vote” campaign, planned for Monday, April 28, 2025, at the party’s headquarters Makerere kavule in Kampala.
In a stern press release by the police announced that all activities related to the launch are banned citing the need to maintain public order. They cautioned both individuals and groups against participating or facilitating any engagements connected to the event.
Before the day had even properly broken, police patrols, riot control trucks and heavily armed officers had surrounded the NUP headquarters in Kamwokya, sending a clear message of zero tolerance toward the planned press conference.
“To Uganda’s biased police force: Your intimidation won’t work. The youth protest vote is unstoppable, launched by the NUP National Youth League,” posted Hon. Zaake Francis.
NUP had planned to officially launch the “Youth Protest Vote” theme ahead of the forthcoming youth elections, a symbolic rallying call aimed at galvanizing Uganda’s young population to resist government oppression through the ballot box.
The Youth Protest Vote is a campaign by the NUP National Youth League aiming to encourage Uganda’s youth who make up over 70% of the population to vote massively opposition as a form of peaceful protest against what they term as decades of dictatorship and unemployment crisis.
Wearing red overalls, the now-iconic symbol of resistance was planned as a rallying style for the movement, underlining solidarity, urgency and defiance.
In its defense, police maintained that their actions were purely to safeguard public safety. Citing previous instances where political launches spiraled into street protests, the UPF insisted that prevention is better than cure.
However, opposition argue that the blanket ban on a press conference not a rally or demonstration signals growing authoritarianism ahead of Uganda’s critical youth elections.
For many young Ugandans, the Youth Protest Vote isn’t just about electing leaders, it’s a referendum on the country’s future. At a time when unemployment, poverty and political exclusion plague the youth, the movement offers an outlet for hope, resistance and collective power.
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