Kampala, Uganda: Fresh cracks have emerged within the National Resistance Movement (NRM) diaspora structures after founding members of the diaspora league raised alarm over what they describe as “factionalism, divisionism, and procedural irregularities” in the party’s diaspora network, fuelled by elements within the party’s Secretariat for “selfish interests.”
In an open letter dated April 7, 2026, addressed to President Yoweri Museveni, Eng. Adam T. Kasambula, a founding member of the NRM Diaspora League (2004), warns that the integrity of the party’s global structures is under threat from internal manipulation and procedural breaches.
The letter, which comes amid tensions surrounding a recent NRM-linked event in South Africa that the official chapter says it was excluded from, lays bare what appears to be an escalating struggle for control of diaspora mobilisation networks.
Kasambula directly links the growing divisions to what he describes as connivance by “unscrupulous individuals” within the NRM Secretariat leadership, accusing them of enabling irregular processes and undermining established structures for personal gain.
“Recent activities within certain NRM Diaspora Chapters in South Africa have raised serious concerns about emerging factionalism, divisionism, and procedural irregularities,” he wrote, warning that such actions risk weakening the Movement’s cohesion.
At the centre of the dispute are allegations that individuals, reportedly operating with backing from sections of the Secretariat, are attempting to override long-standing leadership structures and impose new coordination mechanisms outside the party’s constitutional framework.
Kasambula points to “premature mobilisation and selective registration or election processes” being carried out without a unified roadmap or demographic grounding, describing the actions as a deviation from established directives.
“These initiatives have proceeded without a comprehensive demographic census of Ugandans in the Diaspora and in the absence of a clear, Movement-wide roadmap,” he noted.
The fallout is said to have been triggered in part by the organisation of a recent event in South Africa celebrating President Museveni’s electoral victory, which members of the officially recognised NRM South Africa Chapter rejected, arguing they were sidelined by parallel organisers.
Sources within diaspora circles say the contest is increasingly about control of influence, mobilisation structures, and access to political capital within overseas Ugandan communities, particularly in strategic hubs such as South Africa.
Kasambula further questions the effectiveness of the NRM Directorate of External Affairs, led by Maj (Rtd) Awich Pollar, suggesting that instead of harmonising diaspora operations, it may have inadvertently enabled fragmentation.
“Evidence suggests that, in practice, it has inadvertently contributed to fragmentation, manifested in competing factions, parallel chapters, branches and cells,” he stated.
He warns that the creation of parallel structures risks eroding institutional legitimacy and reversing years of structured diaspora organisation built through deliberate political processes involving founding members across multiple countries.
“Historical records confirm that the formal inclusion of the NRM Diaspora was not incidental but the result of deliberate institutional design,” Kasambula noted.
In a direct appeal, he calls for urgent presidential intervention to halt what he describes as a dangerous drift toward disorder within the diaspora network. “The foregoing warrants your immediate intervention to subject all recent activities in South Africa to formal constitutional review,” he urged.
He also called for the preservation of “historically legitimate structures” and safeguards against exploitation of institutional gaps for “personal or factional gain.”
Efforts to obtain a comment from officials at the NRM Secretariat and NRM Director External Affairs, Maj (Rtd) Awich Pollar were unsuccessful by press time, as repeated calls to their known contacts went unanswered with no return calls.
The unfolding standoff underscores growing tensions within the ruling party’s international structures, raising broader questions about governance, accountability, and control of the party’s diaspora political machinery in Uganda’s evolving political landscape.
Observers say the handling of the South Africa dispute could shape the future of NRM’s diaspora engagement, particularly as overseas networks become increasingly central to political mobilisation, funding, and influence.
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