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Not decided if to run on NRM ticket
Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Judith Obina, the private secretary in charge of political affairs to President Yoweri Museveni, has resigned from her position and declared her intention to contest for the Gulu City Woman Member of Parliament seat in the 2026 elections.
Obina, who has served in the President’s Office for 25 years, announced it during a press briefing with journalists in Gulu City on Monday. She confirmed that her contract will officially end on June 13, 2025, marking the close of her long career as a political aide to the President.
The 52-year-old highlighted that the decision to resign was a personal calling to return home and serve the sub-region in areas of addressing the socio-economic challenges that have stagnated development. According to Obina, her primary motivation to contest was driven by the fact that the Acholi sub-region has failed to move at the same pace as the rest of the other regions.
She noted that while the government has committed financial support to develop the sub-region, some of the support hasn’t been trickling down to the community, which has affected growth. Obina alleged that such anomalies have been ongoing due to what she describes as poor leadership, which she intends to address once in Parliament.
Not decided on NRM ticket
While most ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party members have already picked nomination forms to express interest in contesting for parliamentary seats, Obina says she is yet undecided on whether to pick it or not. She says, irrespective of having an NRM party ticket or not, her vision is unity and service to the people, which doesn’t require a party ticket.
Obina’s resignation sets the stage for a high-stakes political contest in Gulu City as she prepares to challenge the incumbent Gulu City Member of Parliament, Betty Aol Ocan, a veteran opposition politician and former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament. Aol has been in Parliament since 2006, holding the position of Gulu District Woman MP until 2021 when she won the Gulu City Woman MP seat after the creation of Gulu City.
Obina is no stranger to the dynamics of conflict and recovery in the Acholi Sub-region and Northern Uganda in general. During the peak of the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency, Obina took part in mediation efforts between the government and the LRA leader Joseph Kony. In 2007, she was part of the Ugandan delegation that took Kony’s mother, Nora Anek Oting, to the jungles of Rikwangba in South Sudan to meet his son.
Obina joined the State House in 2001 when she was appointed as Assistant Secretary in charge of Political Affairs in the President’s Office. She was later promoted as the private secretary to the president (Head of documentation), a position she served until her resignation.
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