In the yonder of this Wednesday’s re-launch of the membership registration, heavy-dark clouds hang over the vision and mission of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) ruling party of transforming Uganda from a backward peasant society to a united and modern country with a shared prosperity. NRM cadres, leaders and supporters, must therefore, rise to its leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s clarion call to vigorously articulate its Vision and Mission through sustainable and persuasive ways to lure Ugandans especially the young people back into its warm fold.

Under one leadership for 38 solid years stretching into 40 by 2026 when the next general elections are due, NRM is now seen by many more as a country club occupied and run mainly by careerists than a vanguard, revolutionary and liberation political Organisation that it once was. Otherwise, people would not be comparing NRM and President Museveni’s leadership to the megalomaniac Idi Amin Dada or lousy second UPC-Milton Obote’s regimes.

Am already hearing echoes of trepidation and even threats from the squires who would rather want that a bright torch is not shone into the multifaceted dilemma that the NRM has run into for fear that it may enlighten and wake up Ugandans into undesirable actions.

It may serve well to recall that this is the fourth time NRM is ‘launching’ its membership registration as if it’s an entirely new political party, yet it has been in existence as a legal entity since 2005, in which membership registration should be continuous through updating by adding new entrants and deleting the dead and those who join other parties. Its previous management at the Secretariat has perennially been laggard, and one time in 2015 when ejected from office refused to hand over administration files including membership national register.

Consequently, the membership national register upon which its internal elections, and grand mobilisation rest hasn’t been well managed often turning out into chaotic civil war-like arena of do-or-die jungle suitable for the fittest or those who can buy the outcomes with hard cash whose sources have remained guesswork. With no clear, verifiable and independent source of funding NRM will continue to find difficulties sustainably manage its internal processes to build credibility. Therefore, it is necessary, although previously shunned, that NRM leaders re-think its financing model to include membership fees, business holding, and other open-source funding for which proper accountability must be enforced. This should gradually teach members not to see NRM as a travel caravan where people always come to seek freebies, show opulence and wastage yet they don’t contribute financially to the party.  

Although being touted as a ‘mass party’ time has come for NRM top organs to consider a re-structuring to make them leaner and manageable so that they can regularly hold statutory meetings without the apprehension of heavy budget implications. As they currently stand, the organs are huge, inefficient, costly to run and hence the many systemic inertia. It is Museveni who likes quoting from the Prayer Book and James 4:17 “they left undone what they ought to do and done what they ought not to do, and the truth is not with them.” 

Contrary to he said four years ago that he doesn’t mind dumb MPs provided when woken up vote NRM positions, NRM cadres must know that just taking a high road without being vocal about our record is futile because no one will know the direction. NRM must tune people up before they turn out to vote at elections. NRM shouldn’t brag having 11.4 million registered members which earlier was bloated to 17 million yet its presidential candidate in 2021 scored only six million votes. Either they didn’t register or never turned up to vote.