By Sabir Musa
Human rights activists in the West Nile region have raised concerns over what they describe as a growing trend of voters choosing political leaders based on social gestures rather than on competence and development agendas ahead of the upcoming 2026 general elections.
The activists warn that many voters are increasingly influenced by a candidate’s attendance at burials, weddings, and other social functions, rather than critically examining their manifestos and leadership track records.
“What is it that you are going to do? What are you voting for? Why are you voting for that person? What are the reasons? asked Mercy Monica Ocotoko, the Executive Director of Women’s Effort for Inclusive Development (WEID) Initiative. “You look at what they are supposed to do and their possibilities in councils or parliament,” Mercy added.
According to activists, this voting behavior has contributed to what they term ‘sympathy politics, where emotional and cultural obligations overshadow issue-based decision-making by the voters.
Across the districts of West Nile, including Arua, Maracha, Koboko, Yumbe, Terego, and Moyo, candidates have been observed moving from one burial ceremony to another, sometimes abandoning scheduled campaign meetings to maintain visibility at social events in communities.
However, human rights groups warn that critical challenges affecting West Nile, such as unemployment, poor road infrastructure, limited access to clean water, understaffed health facilities, land conflicts, and gender inequality, are receiving little attention in campaign discussions.
Inadequate civic education is also cited as one of the major challenges faced in West Nile, which impacts the quality of leaders elected to serve people in the country, and it calls for urgent intervention from different stakeholders.
At Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), civic engagement in the election period is one of the main activities conducted to encourage people to practice their right to vote as officials at the commission conduct engagements at different levels to educate people.
Immaculate Akullu, the Legal Officer at the commission’s Arua regional office, commits and echoes that they are now focusing on intensifying civic education during this election period to address the challenges so that citizens are empowered to vote responsibly.
“To fulfil this mandate, we do civic education and given that this is the electioneering period, our key message out right now is civic education in regards to elections,” Akullu emphasized.
She informed that they are using community dialogues, barazas, and radio talk shows, among other strategies, to educate communities on voting as a right and electing good leaders to lead them in the next five years in line with the Constitution of Uganda.
The debate over issue-based voting has also been linked to broader concerns about inclusive leadership and gender representation.
The Executive Director of West Nile Development Association (WENDA), Moses Akuma Odims, says that women remain underrepresented in the top political positions despite being the most consistent voters.
Akuma noted that although there is no improvement in the participation of women in elective politics as many are rising to contest in directly-elected positions, he encouraged that more needs to be done to improve and empower more women besides the likes of Phona Onzima, Ayivu West Division MP candidate, and Charity Kevin Lenia, the candidate for Vurra County MP.
“The challenge we have in the region is that the leadership pyramid of West Nile for women is not good in the sense that there are very few women at the top, while more are in the bottom,” Akuma noted.
He added that while many women serve at lower levels of local leadership, the number sharply reduces at higher political positions due to cultural, economic, and educational barriers, “meaning that we have more women as councilors than Members of Parliament”.
Human rights organizations are now calling for intensified voter education to promote issue-based voting and accountability. They are urging residents to demand clear policy commitments from candidates and to hold leaders responsible for their pledges after elections.
As the campaign period intensifies, rights groups insist that the future of governance in West Nile depends on whether citizens shift their focus from emotional politics to inclusive, issue-driven leadership.
