Conceptual displacement the process by which the original semantic content of a policy concept is gradually supplanted by alternative meanings that serve different ideological and institutional interests — has emerged as a critical but under examined phenomenon in African public policy scholarship. This study examined conceptual displacement in Uganda's public policy discourse, with particular emphasis on the education and governance sectors, over the period 2010 to 2024. Drawing on a mixed-methods design that combined critical discourse analysis (CDA) of 214 purposively selected policy documents, 28 key informant interviews, and a structured survey administered to 312 policy actors, the study employed univariate, bivariate, and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques to quantify and explain patterns of semantic drift. Findings revealed that conceptual displacement was widespread across both sectors: Universal Primary Education (UPE) had evolved from a rights-based framework to an enrolment-centric metric, while decentralisation had been reframed from a power-devolution mechanism to a fiscal-transfer instrument. The bivariate analysis established statistically significant positive associations between donor influence and semantic drift (r = 0.61, p < 0.001) and between media amplification and policy incoherence (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). The SEM results indicated that donor framing (β = 0.42), political capture (β = 0.51), and institutional drift (β = 0.38) were the most powerful structural drivers of conceptual displacement, collectively explaining 67% of the variance in the displacement index. The study concludes that conceptual displacement is not incidental but structurally embedded in Uganda's policy environment, driven by asymmetric power relations, donor conditionality, and weak institutional memory. Three key recommendations are advanced: the establishment of a National Policy Concept Registry, mandatory semantic impact assessments for externally financed programmes, and the institutionalisation of participatory policy review mechanisms to preserve conceptual integrity over time.