Whether decked in the bright yellow of the ruling party or donning the revolutionary red of the main opposition, young people are dominant among the foot soldiers of Uganda’s election campaign.
In crowded public grounds and roadside gatherings, young supporters belting out party songs and filming events on their phones outnumber all others.
Their opinions may be diametrically opposed but they are held with equivalent zeal.
“Bobi Wine is a good guy. If he gets to power, I believe he will take the country to a certain point in terms of development. We just need to trust him and allow him to bring out his potential,” Steven Bagasha Byaruhanga tells the BBC at a packed opposition rally in a village in south-western Uganda.
Although Ndyasima Patrick supports the status quo, he was also at the rally, presumably to hear what Bobi Wine has to say. But Patrick wasn’t swayed.
“I support President Yoweri Museveni in this election because he has kept us alive all these years. He may have been in power for a long time but we haven’t got the right one yet. Bobi Wine seems qualified but this is not his time yet, maybe 2031,” he says.
Thursday’s presidential election is a rematch of the 2021 contest with 81-year-old Museveni, in power for four decades, being challenged once again by the relatively youthful former pop star, 43-year-old Bobi Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.
The campaign’s high energy is a reminder that in a country where the median age is just 17, politics is overwhelmingly fuelled by the young.
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Forty years ago, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher were in their pomp, Diego Maradona lifted the World Cup for Argentina, Whitney Houston had a smash hit with The Greatest Love of All and rebel leader Yoweri Museveni seized power in Uganda.
For the vast majority of Ugandans, those other figures only live on in the memories of their parents but Museveni remains the only president they have known.
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) is campaigning under the slogan “Protecting the Gains”, urging continuity and stability.
“Look at Uganda – 40 years ago, we were among the biggest exporters of refugees in all neighbouring countries surrounding us. Right now, Uganda is the biggest host of refugees in Africa,” NRM spokesperson Emmanuel Lumala Dombo tells the BBC, as he lists the gains his party is seeking to defend.
Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), on the other hand, is mobilising the electorate with the slogan “Protest Vote”, a message that emphasises urgency and generational change.
“This election is about liberation, it’s about freedom, it’s about people asserting their voices,” says Bobi Wine, who has become the most prominent political conduit for youth frustration.
Both appeals are aimed at the same young audience, but they imagine Uganda’s future in fundamentally different ways.
Museveni’s search for a seventh successive election victory underscores the paradox.
Uganda is one of the youngest countries in the world, but its political system is dominated by leaders who came to power decades ago and have never left.
This tension is not unique to Uganda.
