The just-concluded NRM party primaries for parliamentary flag bearers across the country have exposed more than just the cracks within Uganda’s ruling party; they have exposed a widening canyon of violence, mistrust, corruption, and outright betrayal of democratic values. If President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the founding father of this party, together with level-headed elders like Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, Hon. Amama Mbabazi, Hon. Kahinda Otafiire, and others whose silence is becoming deafening, do not urgently come together to rescue the NRM from this growing moral decay, then the future of the party is perilously at stake.
What we witnessed during the NRM primaries in July 2025 was not a celebration of internal democracy; it was a political battlefield littered with intimidation, bribery, vote rigging, and disturbing scenes of violence. The sight of Dr. Tanga Odoi, the NRM party’s Electoral Commission Chairperson, being beaten like a common thief in front of cameras was both shameful and telling. If such brutality can be meted out on a high-ranking party official, what about the ordinary voters and candidates who dared to speak up against rigging?
The party has been left with wounds, many of them self-inflicted. Aspirants who genuinely won their races have been denied victory, and returning officers, some of whom are still nameless, are being accused of accepting bribes to announce doctored results. From Kisoro to Bugiri, from Kyenjojo to Lira, stories abound of doctored declaration forms, switched tally sheets, and security operatives being used to harass candidates and supporters alike. The questions are too many, and the answers are too few.
The silence from the party’s ideological elders is loud and troubling. These are the same men and women who once told us that NRM stood for peace, unity, and democratic principles. But today, the values they preached are being buried under a wave of selfish politics, where money and mafia-style manipulation seem to have replaced the ballot.
As young Ugandans who speak with pain and conviction and who love this party for what it once represented—liberation, progress, and people-centered leadership—we are deeply troubled that today, the NRM risks collapsing under the burden of its contradictions.
If President Museveni still believes in the Movement, he must act now. He must recall the elders like Rt. Hon. Rugunda Ruhakana, Gen. Salim Saleh (Caleb Akandwanaho), Mbabazi, Gen. Otafiire, Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, Hon. Mike Mukula, Brig. Matayo Kyaligonza, and others form a task force not only to review what went wrong in these primaries but also to offer a sincere apology to the millions who feel betrayed. Let this task force interrogate the credibility of the NRM electoral process, identify culprits, and recommend structural reforms before the 2026 general elections arrive.
Failure to act will mean handing over the future of this party to a generation that has neither respect for history nor the vision to lead Uganda forward. And in the end, it won’t be the opposition that finishes the NRM—it will be the greed, silence, and indiscipline from within that bring about its downfall.
Let the elders arise now, or let the party fall apart on their watch.
About the Author:
Bob Rumanzi
Youth Analyst & Advocate for Democracy
Rukungiri, Uganda
