Kyagulanyi pledges radical education overhaul to prioritise talent

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National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu has pledged a radical overhaul of Uganda’s education system, promising to make talent identification and nurturing a compulsory part of the curriculum if elected president in 2026.

​Speaking at a campaign rally at Bugiri district headquarters on Saturday, the musician-turned-politician argued that the current academic-focused system overlooks students with unique abilities in music, sports, and other creative fields, leading many to drop out or fail to realise their potential.

“Under our government, talent will be supported and promoted just like academics,” Kyagulanyi asserted.

“We are going to change our education system; we will not stick to what our colonialists left behind.”

​Citing his own career, Kyagulanyi, also known by his music stage name Bobi Wine, emphasised that the creative industry and sports sector hold enormous potential for youth employment and national development. 

He pledged to integrate talent development into the formal curriculum and provide schools with the necessary resources to nurture gifted learners.

​"In Uganda, when a child is not good at school, people say the child is stupid. I am a living example," he said, noting his success was due to music.

"We want to make millions of Bobi Wines. Our schools should transform minds and nurture great people."

​He further argued that national success requires empowering children with practical skills.

He pointed to examples like Israel, which leverages innovation despite limited resources, and pledged to ensure students also appreciate agriculture, learning "what can grow on which soils" to maximise the sector's potential.

Kyagulanyi’s message on education came as he concluded the first phase of his Busoga region tour.

He called off a planned rally in Iganga Municipality on Friday, citing obstruction by security agencies.

Addressing reporters in Jinja earlier on Saturday, Kyagulanyi vowed to maintain a strictly non-violent campaign despite what he termed "repeated provocations".

​“We refuse to be provoked into violence. We will run this campaign based on morality and adherence to the law, while exposing all illegality and impunity by the police."

In a statement, Police spokesperson Rusoke Kituuma explained that the NUP team had been advised to follow an agreed-upon route to the Iganga rally grounds but that they instead "opted to take an alternative route where they encountered our cutoffs,".

The core pledges in the NUP manifesto include:

▪️ Reinstating presidential age and term limits and restoring judicial independence.

▪️Eliminating the Office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) and reducing the size of Parliament and Cabinet to save public funds.

▪️Pledging to recover an estimated sh10 trillion lost to corruption annually and reinvest it in public services.

▪️Addressing the crisis in the sugarcane sector by empowering farmers through cooperatives and ensuring local ownership of factories to combat exploitative pricing.

​Kyagulanyi also promised that his first act as president would be the unconditional release of all political prisoners.