481 UPC members, including 11 LC1 chairpersons, defect to NRM in Kwania

9 August 2026, 8:44 pm

By Solomon Okabo

A total of 481 members of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) in Kwania District have defected to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The defectors include 11 Local Council One (LC1) chairpersons who were recently elected on the UPC ticket.

The group from Nambieso Sub-county was led by Patrick Okello Ouni, a long-serving Etekiber Parish male councillor and former UPC supporter. In Ayabi Sub-county, the defectors were led by Susan Ongol, who contested for the Ayabi Sub-county LCV women’s councillor position on the UPC ticket.

They were received by Tony Eron, the Kwania County Member of Parliament and NRM constituency chairperson, together with Lieutenant Colonel PK Obong, a UPDF commander and native of the area.

Speaking during the ceremony, Okello, a resident of Wiadu in Etekiber Parish, said he joined the NRM because he believed the UPC lacked a clear vision for Uganda.

“UPC is mainly for self-seekers who do not have a clear vision for the country,” he said.

Ongol said she was disappointed by what she described as weak leadership within the UPC, which she blamed for her defeat in the recent elections.

Patrick Onyum Okwang, the Kwania District NRM general secretary, who represented the party chairperson, welcomed the new members and urged them to remain committed to the NRM.

“Now that you have joined the NRM, do not look back. Work with the party to transform your communities,” Onyum said.

Kwania Deputy Resident District Commissioner Abraham Aturu said the growing number of people joining the NRM, particularly in Lango, was a result of improved service delivery and government poverty-alleviation programmes.

He cited initiatives such as the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and livestock restocking programmes as some of the interventions attracting residents to the ruling party.

Tony Eron, the Kwania County Member of Parliament, urged the new members to support the NRM’s Vision 2040 agenda, particularly its goal of eradicating household poverty.

He said his leadership would focus on improving service delivery, education standards, roads and the general welfare of the people of Kwania.

Eron also pledged to emulate the leadership style of the late George Cosmas Adyebo, a former Prime Minister and Kwania County Member of Parliament.