President Museveni meets District NRM Chairpersons

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has met and held all NRM District Chairpersons from across the country and congratulated them on their victory led by the Secretary General Hon Richard Todwong.

The President urged them to focus on wealth creation, strict supervision of PDM and other programs, and to fight corruption in service delivery. 

He also tasked said that the objective of the National Resistance Movement remains clear and its aiming at transforming households and consolidate socio-economic progress.

The NRM 1st National Vice Chairman, Al-Hajji Moses Kigongo and their discussions centred on the current status of the party and planning for its future engagements. 

President Museveni tasked NRM district chairpersons to take the lead in mobilising communities to embrace government wealth-creation programmes, saying the next decisive battle for Uganda is the elimination of household poverty.

He congratulated the Chairpersons upon their election, and successfully mobilizing the masses to vote for NRM and described the recently concluded campaigns as among the most cohesive in three decades, comparable only to the 1996 elections. He noted that the country exhibited a level of unity and confidence not seen in years . 

The NRM National Chairman refered to his his post-election statement published on February 12th, 2026, in which he reflected on what he termed 30 years of political analysis and ideological clarity and said the NRM’s historic mission has always been to identify and remove “mikyeno”, the bottlenecks or societal problems that hinder progress.

He argued that by 1996, the Movement had addressed key ‘mikyeno’ including insecurity, sectarianism, electoral malpractice, economic shortages, and broken infrastructure and that is why, he said, Ugandans then rallied behind the message of “No Change, No Cause.”

However, Museveni acknowledged that new mikyeno emerged over time. While peace and stability had been secured, citizens began asking: “Tulya ddembe?” — “Do we eat peace?” poverty, school fees, corruption and unemployment became the new challenges demanding urgent attention and it is this unfinished business that the President now wants NRM district chairpersons to confront directly.

 “If we pursue the mikyeno and use government resources to solve those mikyeno and cohesion will be sustained and economic growth accelerated” The President noted.

He cautioned leaders, particularly Members of Parliament and local government officials, to listen more closely to wananchi instead of focusing on peripheral issues such as travel and allowances. Leadership, he emphasised, must be about solving people’s real problems.

President Museveni recalled that in response to rising poverty, he introduced three early interventions of Entandikwa (interest-free capital at sub-county level), Universal Primary Education (UPE), and land reforms enshrined in the Constitution and the Land Act.

Although implementation weaknesses slowed progress, he persisted with successive wealth-creation initiatives including NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Emyooga, Youth and Women Funds 

He revealed that by 2019, 61% of households had joined the money economy, leaving 39% still trapped in subsistence production,

Operation Wealth Creation which significantly reduced subsistence levels, in part due to the decision to deploy the army up to sub-county level to supervise distribution of seedlings and agricultural inputs.

He however noted that complaints that programmes were benefitting only connected individuals — “Begabila bokka” — prompted the introduction of the Parish Development Model (PDM) 

Under PDM, funds are managed through parish-level SACCOs where communities elect their own committees and prioritise beneficiaries. 

“Where it has been done well, the people are very happy noting testimonies from wananchi during the campaigns who described PDM as the “silver bullet” to many of their problems” He said. 

He indicated that more money will continue to be channelled through PDM, stressing that poverty eradication is central to fighting unemployment and proposed a clear three-pronged strategy to consolidate Uganda’s socio-economic transformation thatvinclude empowering the masses.

He said that the first pillar focuses on lifting households from subsistence to participation in the money economy, through PDM, Emyooga and other pro-mass interventions, the President said leaders must ensure every parish benefits equitably.

“First buyer is our people. If households have income, they will purchase more locally produced goods, creating internal demand and stimulating growth” He clarified.

Ending poverty among the 39% still outside the money economy will increase consumption of products such as milk, maize, coffee and manufactured goods, strengthening domestic markets.

District NRM chairpersons were urged to supervise these programmes closely, ensure transparency, and use government funds strictly to solve people’s problems.

On the transformation of the economy, which is the second pillar is structural transformation, Uganda is moving from a predominantly agrarian economy to one driven by value addition, manufacturing and services.

President Museveni called for stronger support to manufacturers and the service sector through institutions such as the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) and emphasised the need to tackle bottlenecks in industrial parks, including electricity, roads and water, to enhance productivity.

He reminded leaders that production has already expanded significantly — coffee rising from 3 million to 9 million bags, milk to 5.3 billion litres, maize to 5 million tonnes, and substantial growth in livestock and other commodities and said that the task now is to add value and industrialise.

On the issue of market expansion which is the third pillar is expanding markets, President Museveni stressed that domestic demand must come first and as poverty declines and incomes rise, internal consumption will grow, creating a stable base for producers and from there, Uganda can expand into regional and continental markets under Pan-African frameworks.

“Increasing demand for local products will then progress to regional markets,  linking poverty eradication directly to economic growth” He said.

On the issue of Political Mandate for Economic Action, President Museveni said the positive campaign atmosphere he witnessed across 143 rallies in 153 districts reflected growing public appreciation of pro-mass programmes, but he warned that complacency among leaders — what he termed “Najja-kulya” politics — risks undermining progress.

He therefore urged district chairpersons to stay grounded, work closely with communities, and ensure government resources are used to solve real problems rather than serve narrow interests and framed the electoral victory as not merely political, but economic in mandate.

“The struggle now is against poverty, and if we solve the mikyeno of the masses, there will be cohesion, growth and prosperity.” He stressed.

For NRM district leaders, the directive is clear: mobilise every parish, strengthen implementation of government programmes, expand household incomes, and turn political support into tangible economic transformation.

The meeting was also attended by NRM party Central Executive Committee Members as well as the leadership of the NRM Secretariat.

The National Resistance Movement party Deputy Secretary General Hon Rose Namayanja, who led the secretariat team hailed the victory of the NRM presidential flagbearer stating that the difference of more than 5m votes from the runnerup is a testimony of the unity of Ugandans behind Museveni message. 

Hon Namayanja stated that the 3 pronged campaign strategy was the key to the success and explained that the party chairman devised the strategy, which was carried by the zonal leaders from the secretariat and executed by the district chairpersons who executed the strategy at the grassroots. 

She noted that at the beginning of the campaign, the party chairman guided that votes are not at the secretariat, neither are they at district but at grassroots and the results at presidential and parliament level are testimony and she scoffed at politicians claiming there was rigging, stating that the fact that the Opposition was beated at all levels renders the argument of rigging as hollow.