Ah, the foot soldiers. You know, the loud, online warriors who made it their life’s mission to tweet, post, and rally for the cause who truly believed they were a part of the inner circle. They were out here thinking their hashtags were the key to the gates of PLU’s elite squad, strutting around like they had a reserved seat at the table. Well, the delulu was real, my friend. And then, the moment of truth came. The first batch of PO numbers dropped, and suddenly, reality hit them like a boda boda in a traffic jam. PO 001 safe, obviously. But for the rest? Oof. There they were, sitting in the back, watching as names waltzed into the inner circle, while they were left holding their phones, refreshing the list like it was a new TikTok dance challenge.
The realization that they were just foot soldiers, the ones who were meant to be shouting from the sidelines, not sipping tea with the big boys hit harder than a hot cup of chai in the Kampala heat. And let’s not forget the extended lists. PO 000 for the forgotten ones, and PO ? for those who were stuck in eternal limbo, never quite making it to the chosen list. It was like a cruel joke that Ugandans couldn’t stop laughing at. The foot soldiers were quickly being reminded that while they were good enough to rally behind the cause online, they weren’t exactly VIP material in the grand PLU structure. And they weren’t just being left out they were being roasted too. People joked, “PO 1000: The guy who prints the T-shirts” because that’s who some of them had been reduced to, the behind-the-scenes workers who had helped create the hype, but never quite made the cut.
Oh, and then came the real kicker: PO 005. He had already ruffled feathers with the grassroots members for being too loud, too visible. The online soldiers had criticized him for hogging the spotlight, thinking they would be next in line. But no, Kabanda got the golden number, and the foot soldiers were left scrambling. When PO 01 had to publicly come to Kabanda’s defense, saying, “I picked him myself,” it felt like the ultimate blow to their dreams of entering the inner circle. He got the number because he was picked by the big boss himself. The foot soldiers? Left wondering where their own personal “I chose him” moment was.
The second batch of PO numbers dropped, and by now, the mood had shifted. The ministers got their numbers. The foot soldiers had to face the fact that their social media prowess wasn’t going to cut it when it came to actual positions of power. Their Twitter battles didn’t translate into PO numbers. They were back to being the soldiers on the front lines, but the generals? They had their own game going on.
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