Kamwenge NRM ‘Selection’ not ‘Election’ marred by coercion, bribery and confined voters

Kamwenge, Uganda: What happened in Kamwenge District on Friday, May 23, 2025, cannot, by any stretch of democratic imagination, be called an election. What unfolded was a grand orchestration of deceit and manipulation, camouflaged as an NRM internal electoral process, but in reality, it was a selection engineered by a privileged cabal with money and muscle.

Reliable accounts from local observers, party members, and some of the compromised participants reveal a deeply troubling narrative, one where public will was suppressed, and political agency traded off for envelopes of money and midnight transportation schemes.

By dawn, over UGX 100 million had allegedly changed hands in a secretive, tightly controlled environment. Individuals referred to as “kingmakers” convened behind closed doors, completely detached from the grassroots membership of the NRM, and handpicked the supposed winners of every party position in Kamwenge.

Voters were reportedly fetched from their homes in the dead of night using hired minibuses. But their journey ended not at open polling stations, but in confinement. The venue: Club Afreka Complex Hotel, where sources say gates were locked, manned by uniformed personnel, and access was heavily restricted.

This was no polling venue, it was a controlled chamber where voters were allegedly detained, coerced, and pre-fed with promises of “heavy lunch” and “cash tokens” if they followed prearranged voting instructions.

Inside, the atmosphere resembled a hostage scenario rather than a democratic process. With police, UPDF, and SFC personnel visibly deployed, the message was clear, this was not just rigging, but institutional intimidation. As the selected voters moved to the ballot grounds under military escort, their visible despair and compliance told the entire story: no autonomy, no conviction, just performance under duress.

Even after the charade concluded, there were no celebrations by the so-called winners. How could there be? The result was neither earned nor deserved. The people’s will had been stolen. The electoral outcome was predetermined. Kamwenge was once again left with leaders not chosen by the people, but imposed by a clique with the power to distort democratic processes at will.

This event is not just a Kamwenge problem. It is a tragic mirror of what threatens the internal democracy of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party at large. The transformation of legitimate internal elections into “cash-cash-cash” exchanges is setting a dangerous precedent, one where public service is auctioned off to the highest bidder while the next generation is robbed of visionary leadership.

In Kamwenge, the focus has shifted from building for the next generation to scheming for the next election. The result? Endless scandals, stalled development, and deepening citizen mistrust in public institutions.

If the NRM is to survive as a people’s party, it must urgently reclaim the integrity of its internal processes. Kamwenge deserves better. Uganda deserves better.