NRM youth warn leaders against bribing electorate

NRM youth in Luweero District clean the mortuary at Kasana Health Centre IV at the weekend. Photo by Dan Wandera

What you need to know:

The youth allege voter bribery is not sustainable unlike providing services.

Luweero- A youth group attached to the ruling NRM has asked party leaders to avoid voter bribery and instead channel funds into service delivery.
The youth under their umbrella association, “Support Museveni 2016” claim buying voters wastes resources which could have been used to implement government programmes.

“We have tasted the idea of vote buying and giving out items to our people in exchange for votes during campaigns which is not sustainable. The people given money turn against us because they believe they need better service delivery,” Mr David Kamugisha, one of the group leaders, said at the weekend.

The youth cited the district woman by-election were they alleged voters were bribed and turned against NRM.
They made the remarks after cleaning Kasana Health Centre IV in Luweero Town.

They plan to move to different areas in the district to offer community services to improve the NRM image.
According to the youth, NRM leaders must identify the growing negative image of the ruling party caused by poor service delivery.

“Our referral health unit for Luweero is in a bad state. This is the very reason why we are now mobilising our members to engage in offering free community service programmes on behalf of the NRM party,” Mr Kamugisha said.

However, the district NRM party spokesperson, Mr Ssebina Ssekitoleko, dismissed the bribery allegations, saying if they would have used the youth for that purpose.

He said there are many programmes in education, health and agriculture where government has injected a lot of money.
“It is the duty of all the NRM members to ensure that government programmes are not abused because it affects the image of the ruling party,” Mr Ssebina said.