“Ugandans Put On NRM Yellow T-Shirts Coz They Don’t Have Anything to Wear” Ssemujju Tells
Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, the Member of Parliament for Kira Municipality, has spoken out strongly against the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement (NRM). He says the NRM is taking advantage of the high levels of poverty in Uganda during political campaigns.
According to Ssemujju, many Ugandans wear the yellow T-shirts given out by the NRM during election campaigns not because they support the party, but simply because they do not have enough clothes. He referred to a recent report from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), which showed that over 14 million Ugandans do not even have two sets of clothes.
“When you see people wearing yellow NRM shirts during campaigns, don’t think it means they love the party,” Ssemujju said. “They just don’t have anything else to wear.”
He believes that the poverty in Uganda is so serious that people are willing to accept anything they are given, even if it means wearing clothes with political messages they don’t agree with. He accused the NRM of using these giveaways to create a fake picture of being popular across the country.
“It’s really sad,” he continued. “These T-shirts are not signs of support. They are signs of poverty. The ruling party is just using people’s suffering for their own benefit.”
Ssemujju also pointed out that handing out free items like T-shirts doesn’t solve Uganda’s deeper problems. Instead, it hides them. He said that the NRM should be focusing on lifting people out of poverty, not using their struggles to win votes.
The UBOS report has raised concerns among many people and has started new discussions about the wide gap between the rich and poor in Uganda. Some critics believe that political parties should stop giving out branded merchandise during campaigns and instead focus on long-term solutions to poverty.
So far, the NRM has not given any official response to Ssemujju’s statements. However, his words are expected to raise more questions about how political campaigns are run, especially as the country moves closer to the 2026 general elections. This is particularly important in rural areas, where many people continue to live in deep poverty.
