Individuals can’t bring down NRM - Museveni

An NRM elder Maumbe Mukwana, Mbale District chairman Bernard Mujasi Mukwana, and Bungokho South MP Micheal Werikhe reconcile as they each drink from the same water bottle – a ritual for reconciliation in Mbale on Wednesday. PHOTO BY David Kazungu

What you need to know:

Caution. The President says NRM has been built on a strong ideology that individuals cannot destroy

Mbale.
President Museveni has asked NRM party members to avoid splitting over individual differences.
Mr Museveni who was speaking at a re-union of different factions of NRM party members in Mbale District on Wednesday reminded his supporters that he is still a strong contender for the 2016 presidential election.

He said individual differences cannot split NRM because it has been built on a strong foundation that no member can afford to dismantle. The President said although internal bickering within the party is eminent; the re-union of Mr Micheal Werikhe [Bungokho South MP] and Mr Bernard Mujasi [Mbale District chairman] after years of disunity is an indication that NRM is getting stronger.

“I warn party members to desist from thinking that some brothers such as Mr Jack Maumbe Mukhwana with whom we developed the ideology of eliminating dictatorship during the liberation struggle, have started disintegrating. I and other NRM founders will continue to cherish the elimination of dictatorship in Uganda which must be preserved even after my departure,” Mr Museveni said.

Mr Museveni added that nobody has the capacity to disable the achievements of the NRM government and that he is determined to preserve the ideology that was developed during the liberation struggle.

The director mobilisation and recruitment at the NRM secretariat, Dr Hassan Galiwango, said NRM Mt Elgon area leaders had split for a number of years and this had made the party dysfunctional in the region.

Rivalry started in 1996
The rivalry and political differences between Mr Michael Welishe, and Mr Bernard Mujasi started in 1996 after parliamentary elections and had created many NRM factions in the sub-region.

The embattled NRM leaders who pledged to abandon their quarrels asked the president to ensure that the NRM fulfills the promises it has made to the electorate.