Gulu City, Uganda: The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretary General, Rt Hon Richard Todwong, has said he will not apologise to any party flag bearer who lost in the recent elections after the ruling party openly supported independent candidates in selected races.
Todwong made the remarks during NRM victory celebrations in Gulu City while explaining why the party’s official mayoral flag bearer, Alfred Okwonga, lost to Julius Acire Labeja, popularly known as Gunya, an independent candidate who leaned towards NRM.
Todwong said Okwonga was indecisive about the position he wanted to contest, prompting the party to reconsider its support. He revealed that as Secretary General, he opted to back Labeja, who had previously served as his political assistant when Todwong was appointed Minister without Portfolio in 2012.
According to Todwong, Okwonga, who sailed through the NRM primaries unopposed, later wrote to him seeking to change his candidature from Gulu City Mayor to Member of Parliament, a request he declined to act upon.
“In that period, Gunya was not contesting. NRM called him to come and take the nomination since Okwonga did not know what he wanted. If Okwonga was sure, nobody would have come for his position. Now that it is done, he should come and work with us for NRM,” Todwong said.
However, following the declaration of local government election results on January 24, 2026, Okwonga publicly blamed senior party leaders for his defeat. He said once he realised that some top NRM officials, including Todwong, were not backing him, he wrote to both the NRM Secretariat and the Electoral Commission seeking to withdraw from the race, but received no response.
“I wrote to the Secretariat expressing my concern that party leaders were sponsoring independent candidates against me. I made it clear that if that was the case, I was not willing to stand,” Okwonga said during a post-election press conference.
The developments in Gulu City exposed deep divisions within the ruling party, with several NRM members openly supporting opposition and independent candidates based on personal preference rather than party loyalty.
Speaking to Uganda Radio Network (URN), Lambert Akena Lamex, the NRM Administrative Assistant and Workers’ Representative to Gulu City Council, warned that it is illegal for party members to back candidates other than official NRM flag bearers.
“If it reaches the Secretariat, those members can be penalised. Even those who lose in the primaries should not contest as independents because they risk being forced out of party executive positions,” Akena said.
Despite the warnings, enforcement appeared weak. In Laroo Pece Division, the NRM Chairperson, Okot Tonny, openly campaigned for Democratic Party (DP) candidates Norbert Mao for Division MP and Otim Geoffrey for Division Mayor, despite NRM having official flag bearers Tonny Kitara and Aber Gifter, respectively.
In Bardege–Layibi Division, NRM Chairperson Jacob Ojok Otobi publicly distanced himself from Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, instead backing Mao.
Labeja, who received the strongest backing from NRM members in Gulu City, starting with Todwong, has since formally joined the ruling party after winning the mayoral race.
Official results show that Labeja polled 12,281 votes, defeating Okwonga who garnered 9,586 votes. Other candidates included Obonyo Marc Anthony (1,023 votes), Okello Jonathan Snoop (443), Okello Denis Oweka (340) and Obonyo Patrick Wokorach (67).
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