AMOLATAR – Despite delivering an overwhelming 87.4 percent of presidential votes to Yoweri Museveni in the 2026 elections, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Amolatar District has lost all parliamentary and top local government seats to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), prompting a senior party cadre to appeal for presidential intervention to prevent a long-term erosion of the party’s support base.
In a detailed political report dated June 7, 2026, addressed to President Museveni, Felix Adupa Ongwech, the NRM flag bearer for Kioga County who lost to UPC’s Colline Angwech Otim, warned that without strategic appointments of loyal NRM cadres to government positions, the party risks losing its grassroots structures to an opposition now equipped with significant resources and political leverage.
“If no deliberate intervention is made, UPC may use its current advantage to further entrench itself within the district and weaken the NRM’s organizational structures,” Adupa wrote. He noted that UPC will control three parliamentary seats and the LC V chairperson position, giving the opposition access to substantial financial and institutional resources over the next five years.
The appeal follows election results that saw UPC sweep key positions: Colline Angwech Otim (Kioga County), Geoffrey Ocen Kiring (Kioga North), and Janet Auma Okao (Woman MP) defeated their NRM rivals, including former Woman MP Agnes Atim Apea.
However, the NRM District Chairperson, Olwit Kamilo, pushed back against what he called the “UPC dominance” narrative, attributing the party’s poor showing to internal weaknesses rather than opposition strength.
“The reason UPC won the top positions in Amolatar was because of weaknesses within the NRM party in the district. UPC has not dominated Amolatar,” Kamilo said in an interview. He warned parish chiefs against irregularities in government programmes, including the Parish Development Model restocking programme.
Adupa, in his letter obtained by this publication, argued that Amolatar has been one of the most loyal districts to the President for three consecutive elections, making it the highest-performing NRM district in the Lango Sub-region in 2026. He contended that leaving loyal cadres without institutional support while opposition leaders consolidate power sends a demoralising signal.
“This would not only preserve the party’s presence in Amolatar but also demonstrate that loyalty, commitment, and electoral support are appreciated and rewarded,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Abwang Otim, a loyal NRM cadre in the district, called for unity across party lines. “Elections have passed, and we should bring together people from different political parties for the development of Amolatar District. In politics, disagreements are normal, and they help us identify weaknesses and improve,” he said.
Political observers note that the contrasting positions within NRM, one calling for patronage-based retention of supporters, the other for internal reform, expose deeper organizational fault lines. As UPC consolidates its control over local government resources, the coming five years will test whether NRM can reclaim lost ground or face further defections among its presidential loyalists.
President Museveni’s office had not issued a response to Adupa’s appeal by press time.
