The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has rolled out a new parish-based grassroots mobilisation campaign aimed at boosting support for its presidential candidate, Gen. (Rtd) Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Speaking at the launch, Deputy Secretary General Rose Namayanja Nsereko said the new strategy is meant to “take the message of President Yoweri Museveni deeper down to the villages where candidate could not reach.”
Namayanja aso noted that the party’s campaign trail has been progressing steadily.
“Ever since we started the campaigns, we are moving very steadily as planned, and we want to thank all Ugandans from all the regions where we have carried out… the rallies,” she said, noting thet so far 96 districts have been covered successfully with massive support.
As part of the new phase, senior party leaders, former ministers, current ministers, and other cadres will interact directly with village-level NRM structures.
At each parish, 63 village leaders are expected to convene and will be guided on how to go about it.
This includes the 30 official NRM village structure members and representatives from youth, women, PWD, older persons, and local councils.
She said the goal is to activate all 10,717 parishes and 72,000 villages leaders before polling day, leading to NRM’s victory.
Ambassador Barbara Nekesa, the party’s National Treasurer and head of the Bukedi mobilisation team, emphasised that the campaign is part of long-term planning.
She said the parish mobilisation aims to sustain momentum in areas already visited by the candidate.
Nekesa called on leaders to take parish meetings seriously, saying the new strategy is the party’s “joker,”.
She said the effort would not only secure victory but also strengthen the party’s growth and “entrenchment of the NRM ideals.”
Rosemary Sseninde, the party’s Director for Mobilisation, said the new approach will finally give grassroots leaders a direct role in campaigning for the president, which was not the case before.
“This time around, this campaign is bringing everybody on board, more so the leaders of the structures… they are the foot soldiers at the village level,” she said.
Sseninde also appealed to the youth to value Uganda’s stability.
“If we don’t try to understand our past, we shall not appreciate our present, and we shall never know where we want to go,” she said, noting Uganda’s peace and security over the last 40 years.
She called for peaceful elections and criticised provocations against security. “We need a peaceful campaign, and we cannot achieve it if we don’t love our country,” she said.
Sseninde also encouraged Ugandans to turn up and vote on January 15:
“Get out of your houses and go to decide for your country by voting for NRM, voting for President Yoel Kabuta Musebeni.”
Stop provoking security personnel
Responding to questions on security handling opposition supporters, Sseninde said no one condones abuses but noted that some youths have provoked security forces.
“We must not forget that we have been seeing cases… where our young people have been throwing stones at the security personnel,” she said, arguing that security forces must protect lives and property.
She urged the Electoral Commission to address misconduct and said such incidents appear aimed at gaining sympathy.
Party leaders said the campaign is guided by the Central Executive Committee, coordinated by the Secretariat, and implemented by party structures.
“Where we get a zero, it will be investigated,” officials said.
Nekesa also emphasised the central role of women in the party’s growth. She credited NRM reforms, including free education and university admission incentives for girls, as measures that expanded women’s political participation.
“The women are at the centre… championing this strategy,” she said, noting they make up a large share of NRM’s voter base.
