The National Resistance Movement(NRM) leaders’ convention in Kyankwanzi finally came to its end last evening amid high tension among a section of people who had anticipated it would climax with an endorsement of President Museveni’s sole candidate status for the 2026 elections.
Earlier in the day, there had been some reports that a section of the Lawmakers at NALI was plotting to push Muaeveni into accepting their sole endorsement, a move Mr Daudi Kabanda, one of the key crusaders of the “Mohoozi Movement” viewed with suspicion that it could have been intended to frustrate the man he is relentlessly selling for the next general election.
“We have just been reliably informed that a group of 30 self-seekers (MPs) are converging at Kyankwanzi to endorse President Museveni tomorrow [yesterday June 04, 2023) as a sole candidate for the 2026 elections. We know some of them are targeting ministerial positions while the others want to retain their ministerial positions,” claimed Kabanda on Saturday.
At about 3 pm on Sunday, June 4, 2023, the State House confirmed that President Museveni and First Lady Janet Museveni had departed from the National Leadership Institute (NALI), Kyankwanzi to Ngoma in Nakaseke District for the final activities of the NRM Caucus retreat.
On arrival, some MPs could be seen provocatively celebrating in suspiciously evil dance moves that depicted danger for whoever they did not wish good. This move drew anxiety among Muhoozi loyalists in participation of the worst news of the generation- Museveni’s sole candidature endorsement.
To the shock of many( excluding me), there was none of the sort that was mentioned. Reports later emerged to the effect that the old man from Rwakitura had actually trashed such moves, much to the disappointment of its crusaders. To me, this is highly believed for the President has severally resisted similar efforts in the past, including in last year while meeting Intern Doctors at the Kololo Independence Ground. When asked to comment on his 2026 ambitions, the president rubbished the talk and insisted it was time for working and not politics. He would go on to give the same response in Soroti, Bukedea and Amuru.
Making sense of the president’s address on the Muhoozi Movement at Kyankwanzi
General Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s address on the controversy regarding his 2006 and his son, General Muhoozi Keinerugaba while responding to NRM MPs and the National Leadership Institute(NALI) Kyankwanzi continues to stir mired debate on what the President might have intended to communicate.
Asked to comment on the confusion by one MP who feels threatened by the ever-growing power of the Muhoozi Movement in her constituency, Museveni, also the National Chairman of the ruling party attributed the raise of Muhoozi Movement to weaknesses within the leadership of the party who failed to respond to the frustrations of some party members, especially the youths.
“The issue of standby generator, that one I am handling with Muhoozi and his group because this issue is partly due to the weaknesses of the NRM. Because remember when Muhoozi celebrated his birthday, 48 years, there was some enthusiasm by some youths in Kampala and other parts. When I analysed it, I could see that because of the weaknesses of our systems, some of the frustrated youths go to that group thinking that there is hope and within the army itself, there has been corruption and Muhoozi himself has been very strict with them within the army and that’s why there is a resistance movement within the Resistance Movement.”
In there, the President makes two salient issues worthy of our reflection. One is that he is aware of General Muhoozi as “a standby generator” whose “Muhoozi Movement” he is pretty aware of. He goes on to enlighten the country on the genesis of the Muhoozi Movement which he attributes largely to weaknesses within the party he leads as National Chairman- NRM. Secondly, the President emphasises Muhoozi’s anti-graft characteristic as one of the factors for his persistence to the top of the queue of succession. He notes that his son General’s shining work in cleaning the army of corrupt leaders is what partly lenders him to the people who share a similar passion.
“But of course, some of the things that Muhoozi doesn’t know is that some people are looking for their own interests. But what I did, I called them and talked to them and you will come back together all of you. What I explained to Muhoozi was that creating unprincipled contradictions among the people is not a good thing. You should only fight those against your ideology but not anybody within your ideology, so I am helping them. Don’t create unnecessary contradictions amongst yourself. I talked to General Muhoozi, and Mama was there, the principles of NRM, do I look for patriotism or sectarianism? When I am for patriotism, then you are all together. It’s only the one who is for sectarianism that should seem to me as a problem. If I am for patriotism, why would you see me as a problem?”
In this last part, the President seems to sound out some members of his party to completely cease hostility against his son whom he labours to project as an outspring of the same establishment. Patriotism, a value the MK supreme leader has held so dear at all times, Museveni submits that should be the cement to glue the party together. He says he expects there to be fights against whoever is against the principles of NRM which include, patriotism and Pan- Africanism. Specially important, though, Museveni, in the same submission cautions General Muhoozi against people he thinks are trying to misguide him for their selfish motives.
All in all, the president’s well-articulated speech to the Legislators at Kyamkwanzi was largely legitimizing General Muhoozi as his ordained successor and a call to the party leadership to embrace the Muhoozi Movement within its ranks as a way of mitigating the weaknesses that risk tearing NRM apart.
The message and conduct at NALI to the leaders might not have been too direct and simple for anyone to decipher but it was clearly one that cleared General Muhoozi as the next president, and this may not be further than 2026. Let nobody say I didn’t tell them.
The writer is the Coordinator for Diaspora Team Chairman US Chapter
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