Use young people for the right purpose, Mayor-elect Alionzi advises

ARUA CITY – Arua City Mayor-elect Lawrence Alionzi, popularly known as Dangote, has urged leaders to engage young people in productive and meaningful activities.

According to Alionzi, when properly guided, young people can become a powerful force for economic growth, increased workforce participation and overall development of the area.

 Alionzi, whose campaign received massive support from the youth, warned that when young people are not constructively engaged, they can easily turn into a security burden for the community.

“It is therefore the responsibility of all leaders to ensure that the interests of young people are taken care of by creating job opportunities for them,” Alionzi told journalists shortly after he was declared winner and Mayor-elect of Arua City on Friday morning, January 23, 2026.

Alionzi polled 32,888 votes against his closest challenger Caesar Draecabo, who got 3,239 votes, a massive winning margin of 29,649 votes.

While acknowledging the contribution of all voter groups, Alionzi stressed that in this election young people proved to be the most decisive force by turning out in very large numbers.

He used a powerful analogy to drive home his message: “Young people are like a sharp knife in your hand. If you come back in the evening and find your wife holding a very sharp knife and she is using it for cooking, you feel safe. But if she is not used to handling sharp knives and you had wronged her the previous day, then you will be running for your life,” Alionzi explained.

“So, young people are like sharp knives in our hands, when used for the right purpose, they become a force to reckon with.”

The Mayor-elect also raised serious concern about the high school dropout rate, noting that on average, only 21 percent of pupils who enroll in Primary One manage to complete Primary Seven, meaning 79 percent drop out along the way.

“These are the very people we cannot employ in the formal workforce, yet they remain part of our community. It is now our responsibility within the framework of local government to do everything possible to make as many of these young people productive as we can. Even those who have received formal training must be supported to put their skills into practice so they do not end up frustrated,” he stated.

Meanwhile Alionzi said he called the press conference to take the earliest opportunity to reconcile with everyone and to invite all residents to work together for the development of Arua City.

“We don’t have to like each other to work together. We don’t all have to belong to NRM to work together. We don’t even need to belong to the same political party. We don’t have to be personal friends. But if we believe in the same things, then there is every reason to work together,” he guided.

He revealed that, in consultation with his team, he will soon unveil a comprehensive plan to establish an inland commercial hub in the region, adding that they would be proud to lay the foundation for this important project.

In his remarks, Job Richard Matua, the Assistant Resident City Commissioner for Arua City, described Alionzi as the saviour of NRM in Arua City.

He noted that Arua City had long been regarded as an opposition stronghold in the West Nile region, a region that consistently rejected NRM in the presidential elections of 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016.

“Finally, Alionzi has delivered Arua City to NRM. This is not just a small win; it is a decisive, confirmatory and conclusive victory. We now have a stronghold called Arua City firmly in the hands of NRM,” Matua declared.

He added that the NRM plans to use this victory to consolidate party support, especially among young people, and to help them better understand the NRM ideology while supporting their socio-economic progress.

Matua also stated that Alionzi’s victory clearly confirms that the 71.9 percent votes President Museveni got in Arua City during the presidential election was indeed a true and legitimate result.