The police in Wamala region are hunting for suspects behind the placing of unauthorized road sign inscriptions in big letters at sections of the Kampala-Kiboga- Hoima highway.
The inscriptions according to Wamala Region Police spokesperson, Mr Lameck Kigozi that read ‘Protest vote’ reflect individual political opinions and affiliations but also go against the mandate of any individual to do the work only authorized by the Ministry of Works and Transport.
In a statement released by Mr Kigozi on Friday, December 26, 2025 the suspects believed to be National Unity Platform (NUP) party agents and riding on a numberless motorcycle placed the road sign inscriptions at sections of the Kampala-Kiboga -Hoima highway at around 9:20 pm, before fleeing.
‘Whereas it’s the duty of the Ministry of Works and Transport to inscribe our roads for whichever reason based on the Ministry’s statutory duties, it’s an act of sabotage for a layman to inscribe a public road with wordings reflecting personal political affiliation or inciting the public,’ Mr Kigozi added in his statement.
‘I hereby caution the public in the region to desist from such acts of sabotage driven by their respective political ambition. Anybody caught in such actions will be arrested and prosecuted in line with the respective law guidelines,’ Mr Kigozi indicated in his statement seen by this publication.
According to police, wordings that attract attention of the road users placed at sections of the highway in Lwamata Town Council raise suspicion about the intentions of the suspects and why they rode on a numberless motorcycle and quickly disappeared.
‘They probably (suspects) knew that they were acting outside the law. But the police are hunting for them. It is the Ministry of Works and Transport to authorize placement of road signs at designated road sections,’ he said.
Engineer Emmanuel Gizamba Masaba, a road safety expert, told this publication that road signs attract the attention of the road users and must be authorized by the relevant government departments.
‘If the inscriptions had been placed off the road, it would be a different matter but any wording on the road surface should have a traffic intention and message that either cautions the road users or gives direction and guidelines about the use of particular road sections guided by the traffic laws,’ he said.
NUP led by their presidential candidate, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi are actively promoting a strategy of a “protest vote” in the lead-up to Uganda’s January 2026 General Election. It is a central part of their current nationwide mobilisation drive to encourage mass voter turnout to “overwhelm” the incumbent government and prevent alleged rigging, use the ballot as a primary tool for legal and constitutional change, rather than just street protests and to protect the vote at polling stations to ensure the results are not manipulated, among others.