At 25, Hon. Lenia Charity Kevin has just become the youngest person sitting on the National Resistance Movement’s Central Executive Committee (CEC), the party organ that sets NRM’s biggest strategic decisions. Her approval to the CEC came during a committee sitting at State House, Entebbe, alongside three other nominees appointed by Party Chairman President Yoweri Museveni, including Rt. Hon. Ruhakana Rugunda and former MUBS Principal Prof. Waswa Balunywa.
For anyone who has followed her journey, the rise feels fast but not sudden. Lenia’s political story actually started on campus.
From MUBS guild politics to national office
Before she was “Hon. Lenia Charity,” she was simply a MUBS student with a growing following, elected as the university’s first female Vice Guild President during the 2022/2023 academic year. She contested for the top guild seat itself in 2023, running on a National Unity Platform (NUP) ticket, and lost that particular race. But the loss did not end her political ambitions, it redirected them.
In 2024, Lenia announced a switch from NUP to the ruling NRM, a move that raised eyebrows given her earlier association with NUP President Robert Kyagulanyi. She has said the decision came down to wanting to serve her community more directly, working within government structures rather than outside them.
Youngest MP, now youngest CEC member
That switch paid off fast. Lenia went on to defeat seven male contenders in the NRM primaries for the Vurra County seat in Arua District, then won the general seat outright, becoming Uganda’s youngest sitting Member of Parliament at just 24 years old when she was sworn into the 12th Parliament in May 2026. Her focus since taking office has centred on youth empowerment, women’s rights, and support for farmers and small businesses in Vurra.
Her appointment to the CEC now builds directly on that momentum, placing a young, campus-tested political voice inside the room where NRM’s top decisions get made, a room typically dominated by veteran party heavyweights several decades her senior.
What this means for young people watching
For students and recent graduates who see student leadership as a dead end after campus, Lenia’s trajectory tells a different story. Guild politics, for her, was not the finish line. It was the training
ground.
CampusBee will continue following Hon. Lenia Charity’s journey as she settles into her new role on NRM’s Central Executive Committee.
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