We Must Honor the Builders of PLU in Western Uganda

The Patriotic League of Uganda did not fall from the sky. It was not created in a hotel conference room in Kampala. It was not built on X Spaces or on TikTok. It was built in the villages.

That is a fact that some people want to erase today, but it is a fact that history will not forget.

Recently, Hon. Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi, the Minister of State for Local Government and also the Vice Chairman of PLU for Western Uganda, was quoted saying that there are no PLU coordinators at district level or regional level. With utmost respect to the Minister, that statement is unfair, false, and an insult to the people who sacrificed everything to build PLU when it was still a child.

Let us set the record straight for posterity.

Western Uganda is the strongest base of PLU today. That strength did not happen by accident. It happened because as early as 2020, when most of today’s loud voices were still silent, Vice National Chairman Mr. Toyota Nuwagira Kaguta had a vision. He knew that a national movement without grassroots structures is just a Kampala club. So he commissioned the creation of PLU structures across the West.

And the man he trusted to do that work was Gerald Agaba.

Gerald Agaba is not a self-declared coordinator. He is the appointed Regional Coordinator for Western Uganda, appointed under the direct command of Chairman Toyota. And his work is visible for anyone who cares to go to the ground and see.

What did Gerald Agaba do? He did not just create a list of names on paper. He built a complete, functional, living structure that ranges from village level to district level across Western Uganda.

He built the village coordinators. The parish coordinators. The sub-county coordinators. The town council coordinators. The district coordinators. A full chain of command from the smallest village to the district headquarters.

He did this in 41 districts across Western Uganda. From the hills of Kisoro and Rubanda, to the lowlands of Kasese and Bundibugyo, from Rukungiri, Kanungu, Kabale, Rukiga, Ntungamo, Bushenyi, Sheema, Mitooma, Buhweju, Rubirizi, Kazo, Ibanda, Kiruhura, Kyegegwa, Kamwenge, Kitagwenda, Bunyangabu, Kabarole, Ntoroko, Kyenjojo, Kyegegwa, Hoima, Kikuube, Kagadi, Kakumiro, Kibaale, Masindi, Buliisa, Kiryandongo, Mbarara and beyond.

For six years, since 2020, he traversed this vast region not with government facilitation, not with a big budget from Kampala, but using his personal resources. His own money for fuel, his own boda boda when the car broke down, his own time away from his family, his own airtime calling mobilizers late at night.

At that time, PLU was a kid. People laughed. People said “that thing will not grow.” The rich people from Kampala who today want to own PLU were nowhere to be seen. The wealthy brokers who today fly to Mbarara in V8s were not there. It was the poor but passionate mobilisers like Agaba who stood in the rain under a mango tree explaining the vision of our Chairman Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba to five youth.

They are the ones who created the strong base we brag about today. The entire base of PLU leaders in Western Uganda – from village to parish to sub-county to district – is their labour. It is Gerald’s labour. To say that structure does not exist is to spit on that labour.

This brings us to a bigger problem that is now threatening PLU. There is a war being waged against the selfless warriors who promoted PLU when it was a kid. This war is being waged by a rich, wealthy gang from Kampala.

These newcomers have money. They have access. They have sleek suits. But they have no history in PLU. They did not plant. Now they want to harvest. And to harvest, they must first chase away the planter.

They move with a narrative: “There were no structures. We are now creating them.” That is a lie. The structures are there. From village to district. They were created by Gerald Agaba and his team under Chairman Toyota. If you go to any district in Kigezi and Ankole today, ask for the PLU parish coordinator, they will show you someone. That someone was recruited by Agaba.

The mobilisers in upcountry may be poor, but they are not useless. They proved that commitment is more powerful than money. They were able to build what money could not build – loyalty. And now they are being demotivated instead of motivated. They are being told they are nothing, that they are not coordinators, that their appointment letters mean nothing.

What kind of organization does that?

If PLU is about patriotism, then patriotism must start inside PLU. Patriotism means honouring those who served before you. It means respecting the foundation.

Gerald Agaba, as a matter of fact, is the Coordinator for Western Uganda. He was appointed, he delivered, and he deserves to be recognized. Not because he is begging for a title, but because you cannot erase a man whose work is in every village.

We are not against new members. PLU is for all Ugandans. Come and join. But join with respect. Don’t come to demolish the house that was built before you arrived. Add a brick to it. Don’t bring it down to build your own small hut.

The structures from village level to district level that Gerald created across Western Uganda are the seed that formed the strong base of PLU. Without those seeds, there is no PLU in the West. It is that simple.

We call upon our Chairman Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, a soldier who understands loyalty and chain of command, and upon our Vice National Chairman Mr. Toyota Nuwagira Kaguta, who knows exactly who built what, to intervene and protect the builders.

The selfless people who promoted PLU when it was a kid should not be buried when this kid becomes a grown-up man. They should be honoured. They should be celebrated. They should be promoted.

Because if we forget where we came from, we will never reach where we are going.

The future of PLU in Western Uganda depends on whether we choose to honour the builders or to worship the buyers.

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