President Museveni has urged party leaders to reject corruption, division, and injustice to maintain the NRM’s unity and public trust.
Museveni made the plea while closing the party’s delegates conference at Kololo Independence Ground.
Freshly endorsed as the NRM flagbearer for the 2026 general elections, Museveni congratulated the delegates for completing a massive nationwide exercise that began on May 6, 2025, with branch-level elections.
He highlighted the party’s significant support base, noting that the NRM boasts over 20 million members, including 18.5 million voters. “This is a big resource which you should not play around with,” Museveni emphasized, urging leaders to safeguard this support through honest and just leadership.
Museveni warned that corruption, favouritism, and injustice risk alienating members and eroding the party’s credibility.
“Those who make mistakes, who do things carelessly, are really interfering with the work. These 20 million members of the NRM want justice, fairness, and the truth,” he said. He assured delegates that allegations of corruption would be thoroughly investigated, stressing transparency and accountability.
“Nobody should pollute our NRM with bad behaviour. The use of money and corruption must be condemned,” he declared, hinting at potential legal action against offenders.
Addressing the youth, Museveni commended their vocal demands for accountability, encouraging them to engage in constructive resistance to strengthen the party. Drawing from history, he recalled how his group’s warnings to the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) in the 1980s were ignored, leading to armed struggle.
“By resisting what you think is wrong, you are becoming true members of the National Resistance Movement,” he told young cadres.
Museveni also called on the NRM’s 2.4 million leaders to monitor local crime, criticizing some police officers for complacency.
“You, the leaders of the NRM, don’t allow the police to sit on crime,” he commanded, emphasizing that crime should be addressed at the community and police levels, leaving the army to focus on national defense.
On development, Museveni underscored the importance of household wealth creation alongside collective infrastructure like roads and schools. Additionally, he announced plans to abolish school fees in government schools in the coming term to ensure access to education, alongside improving healthcare, feeder roads, and safe water access.
The event saw fraternal delegations from across Africa, including Kenya’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), Rwanda’s Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), South Sudan’s Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), Burundi’s CNDD-FDD, and the Sahrawi Republic.
These delegations reaffirmed their solidarity with the NRM, praising Museveni’s leadership and Uganda’s role in advancing Pan-African unity.
Kenya’s Hassan Omar, representing President William Ruto, expressed confidence in NRM’s victory in 2026, while South Africa’s Nomvula Mokonyane emphasized African unity as a necessity against neocolonialism.
Museveni concluded by urging unity among winners and losers in the elections, promising investigations into any electoral irregularities.
