The campaign slogan of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which is also the theme for the 2026-2031 Manifesto, “protecting the gains”, beyond being a broad ideological statement, relates directly to the ordinary Ugandan in a way that some have not yet appreciated. It is a straightforward phrase delivered in simple language, but carries “extra baggage” because of the political nature of its application.
“Which gains are there to protect?” opponents of NRM query, cynically.
The NRM government makes 40 years next January since assuming power after the liberation war of the 1980s. In the four decades at the helm, there have been different phases of transformation-first the recovery phase where policy and administrative actions had to be taken to reverse the rot that had descended on the country and giving Ugandans basic essentials like salt, paraffin and soap which were nowhere under previous administrations (I was very young, but I know about a time when our parents used pawpaw leaves as soap and raw sugarcane as sweetener or sugar for drinking tea, we ate food without salt at all). Then a phase of “baby steps” to get the economy on its feet through reigniting some production, industry, (barter) trade and then a phase of growing the different sectors of the economy to create jobs and expand revenue collection while enabling essential public services like roads , education and health care to be funded.
Meanwhile all that time, there were pockets of instability and war holding back national progress and costing the tax payer a lot of resources to fight. Without the Lakwena-Kony-UPA-NALU-ADF and other rebellions, Uganda would be at a very advanced stage of development. Those useless rebellions disrupted the lives of Ugandans in the North, West and East and up to now some are yet to recover from the effects. Those who know better should calculate for us the economic cost of those rebellions and what could have been done with the resources that went into defeating them.
Other than that, 2026 will be an opportune time to celebrate Uganda as a functional state with a lot to note in terms of progress. I often find it odd writing about tangible or visible developments because they are in place and everybody sees them.
Unfortunately, there is a class of Ugandans that are in denial about NRM’s achievements and the situation of Uganda. They claim not to see. Others have not travelled widely, so they only know small things in their locality. This is why it’s important for government communicators to publicise these developments appropriately to enable citizens appreciate the sacrifice and their own contribution to make what was previously impossible come to reality.
They also need to know where services are so that they go there.
“Protecting the gains” is about taking stock of everything that positively defines Uganda’s journey of progress starting at the critical turning point in 1986. Every election cycle has an element of consolidation, but this is the first time we wrap up a 40-year profile in service. Forty years is a period of achieving maturity of the NRM revolution while launching a new phase. You can’t step into the new phase without protecting what is already in place, otherwise you risk going back to the “recovery phase” of 1986 or lost phases before that.
NRM’s 2026-2031 guarantees that everything good that has happened with President Yoweri Museveni in charge will be secured. This slogan does not benefit NRM only because Uganda is for all. It was framed with a nationalistic point of view, including for the opposition which is attempting to wrest power from NRM.
By 1986, the civil opposition was voiceless, if not dead. NRM revamped the political space they needed to operate and regenerate. However, in an attempt to dispute that there are gains to protect and in trying to erase them in the psyche of Ugandans, some mistakes are being made by the opposition. The biggest gain that anyone can have is life. Life gives one a chance to enjoy what’s in place while working for better. Once you die, your dreams are cut short.
Violent scenes, though isolated, from the campaign trail threaten our gains. A clip of a motorcycle rider who brazenly and clearly ran into a senior police officer in Mbarara, likely with an intention of harming or even taking his life, shows how prepared some are to destroy those gains. What would one expect from attacking a security officer, who is armed? The officer in question exercised maximum restraint and acrobatically subdued his attacker by jumping high in the air and grabbing the rider. Both fell to the ground and the rescuers intervened quickly.
My contacts in the Mukono area told me of NUP boys in Wantoni-along Jinja road at the junction branching off to Katosi-who openly state that when the party candidate, Robert Kyagulanyi, was visiting the area, police handled them well, guiding them where to stop to allow traffic flow normally until two boys pelted officers with stones. That that’s when teargas and batons started. Clearly, these were acts of provocation on armed security personnel. Such risky behavior by youths threatens the gain of being alive, after NRM did much to save them from the six killer diseases, HIV/AIDS, war and the vagaries of fulltime instability. How about the education, knowledge and skills gained from an expanded and diverse education policy? This young, learned population should not be lost so carelessly.
As NRM vows to protect the trail of gains from 1986 to-date, every Ugandan should count the self as a part of the success story that must be jealously guarded and consciously improved on. “Protecting the gains” is not a statement of campaign formality. It is a realistic and achievable appeal, unlike the impractical ones advanced by the other side. It was framed with a level of assurance than can only be guaranteed by experience, humility, trust and seniority in leadership, attributes that only candidate Museveni possesses.
The author is the Special Presidential Assistant-Press & Mobilisation/Deputy Spokesperson
Email: faruk.kirunda@statehouse.go.ug
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