Party unity in danger as NRM faces fallout from disputed primaries

Youthful NRM supporters show their support for President Yoweri Museveni. Primaries for his National Resistance Party were disorganised. FILE PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI |   NATION MEDIA GROUP

By GAAKI KIGAMBO

As Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni begins his campaigns for a fifth term in office, the National Resistance Movement fears that disputes arising from the internal elections held on October 27 could derail the party’s unity.

President Museveni has reportedly set up a special national dispute resolution and reconciliation committee, whose membership was due to be announced at the first meeting of the delegates’ conference, which opened on Friday.

The committee, expected to comprise senior party leaders and have sub-committees at the regional level, has only one month to sort out the petitions. The electoral commission plans to nominate candidates to parliamentary and local council races on December 1.

There were several hitches in the NRM primaries, from asking aspirants to pay nomination fees, extending the primaries from September to October, and delays in the delivery of voting materials with some being sent to the wrong places.

In addition, candidates’ names were misspelt, security for the voting materials was poor, and there were instances of ballot stuffing — resulting in violence in some areas.

“We were trying to do things that were way beyond our capacity. If there was enough money, time and personnel, they would have delivered something good, the way the electoral commission does,” Deputy Speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanyah said. He also told reporters on Wednesday that he is seeking to become NRM’s vice chairman for northern Uganda.

Party officials say only a few losers will break ranks with the party to run either as independents or join other political parties.

“We don’t expect a lot of them, not even 10 per cent, to run as independents because the NRM has put in place a mechanism for political arbitration,” said Mr Oulanyah.

“We believe that many of those who lost will accept the mediation,” said Ofwono Opondo, the NRM deputy spokesperson.

“Others, we believe, will take a long term view of the situation and realise that the NRM and President Museveni are still dominant forces, and because they have benefited from this strength before they will find it in their interest not to alienate themselves from it.”

Mr Opondo, who is also the government’s spokesperson, dismissed suggestions that NRM’s former secretary general Amama Mbabazi has plans to persuade those who lost in the primaries to support his presidential bid.

In July, Mr Mbabazi said his team was “absolutely ready to fund the campaign to the maximum.”

In September, at one of the meetings of The Democratic Alliance — a coalition of opposition political parties — Mr Mbabazi reportedly said he had reserved some $7 million (Ush25.5 billion then) for the campaigns.

“Many of them are likely to calculate the resources they have already spent, review the reasons they lost — they will have to contend with pressure from their relatives and friends — and so we think self-realisation will dawn on many people and they will make rational decisions after the current temperatures have cooled down,” Mr Opondo added.