Mayuge, Uganda: President Museveni has directed newly elected NRM district chairpersons to penetrate every village, parish and workplace as the ruling party rolls out a nationwide grassroots mobilisation strategy ahead of the 2026 general elections.
Flagging off the mobilisation exercise on Tuesday evening at Mayuge State Lodge, Mr Museveni congratulated the new district party leaders, many of them youthful, but cautioned that leadership demands ideological clarity, not just age.
“You cannot simply say, ‘We are young.’ Youth is biology; politics needs ideology,” he said. “It is important that you understand the ideology of the NRM.”
The President unveiled a comprehensive message that the mobilisation teams will deliver across villages, parishes and places of work, noting that the strategy was shaped by extensive consultations within the party.
Mr Museveni instructed the leaders to ensure that factories, hotels, markets, schools and other workplaces have active party mobilisers. He highlighted patriotic clubs in schools as existing structures the NRM should strengthen to reach young people, including those who may not yet be eligible to vote.
Beyond workplaces, the President urged district chairpersons to engage everyday community influencers such as taxi drivers, who meet hundreds of travellers daily and can help shape opinion at the grassroots.
Under the new approach, mobilisation teams will work parish by parish, meeting the 63 recognised local leaders per village and equipping them with both written and oral campaign messages.
Given that most parishes have about five villages, Mr Museveni said this ensures direct engagement with nearly 400 local leaders at once, improving message accuracy and unity. If each of the 63 village-level leaders mobilises only three additional supporters, he projected the NRM would reach over 14 million Ugandans across the country’s 72,000 villages.
Achievements and Priorities in the NRM Message
Museveni said the mobilisation message highlights what the NRM has delivered—new factories, schools, health centres and expanded road infrastructure—while also acknowledging challenges such as delayed reconstruction of some roads.
He attributed certain delays to “poor prioritisation” by civilian leaders who spread resources thinly “in pursuit of cheap popularity” instead of following the NRM’s principle of doing the most important tasks first.
“We, the bush people, believe in doing the most important things first with the little money available,” Museveni said, stressing that key roads must take precedence over salaries and new administrative units.
The President dismissed opposition presidential candidates as purveyors of falsehoods backed by foreign interests “who fear Uganda becoming strong,” urging the NRM chairpersons to counter their narratives with accurate information.
He said the newly launched strategy is designed to shift mobilisation responsibilities to the elected party structures rather than depend primarily on volunteer groups. “For the first time, those elected to do the work will be deployed to actually do that work,” he said. “If someone is elected to do something, let him do it.”
NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong said the revamped mobilisation drive aims to ensure district campaign committees sustain vote-hunting efforts even after the presidential rallies conclude.
The launch was attended by CEC members, top NRM Secretariat officials, district and city chairpersons and sub-regional coordinators overseeing the campaign exercise.
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