NRM denies ferrying schoolchildren, coercing civil servants to campaign rallies

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The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has sharply rejected accusations that it ferries school children to political rallies or deploys public servants for partisan mobilisation, branding the claims “baseless and unfounded.”

The rebuttal comes after photos circulated on social media platforms showing students wearing yellow T-shirts at one of the NRM campaign rallies in eastern Uganda recently.

Speaking at the party secretariat in Nakasero, Kampala, on November 21, 2026, party deputy secretary general Rose Namayanja insisted that only adults of voting age are encouraged to attend political events.

“We have told schools that if children are below 18, they don’t need to be disturbed to come to rallies,” she said.

“But for children 18 and above, it is very, very okay for them to come and be part of the rallies and hear the message. They are voting age, they are adults, and they can make decisions on their own,” she added.

Also responding to concerns about civil servants being drawn into NRM campaign activities, Namayanja maintained that public employees may be there to explain government achievements, but must not engage in political mobilisation.

“It is very okay for public servants to go on the radio, to go to public meetings, and articulate what has been achieved during their tenure. But of course, we don’t expect them to put on yellow shirts and begin mobilising for votes. That is wrong,” she noted.

She stressed that public servants are barred from wearing NRM-branded attire or soliciting support for the party, saying their responsibility is to provide information, not campaign.

Avoid confrontation

Namayanja urged both NRM and Opposition supporters to avoid confrontations during the heat of the campaign season.

She highlighted that the Electoral Commission’s harmonised candidate schedules were to safeguard against clashes.

“If the candidates leave after the campaigns, these voters will remain in the village. They will keep working and supporting each other in their neighbourhoods. So, we just want a progressive campaign. We just want a calm process as Ugandans take their decisions on who should lead them,” she said.

Busoga, Buganda factor

Namayanja revealed that the NRM is intensifying mobilisation in Busoga and Buganda, regions where the Opposition outperformed the party in previous cycles.

“There is nothing so special about Busoga. For us as a party, we want to win everywhere. We are confident that with the effort that is being put in, we are going to reclaim our support base in those areas,” she said.

She noted that the NRM has previously recovered from poor regional performance through revamped strategies.

She cited northern Uganda, where its presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni, once polled only 11%, as now one of the party’s strongholds.

She also highlighted the turnaround in Teso, where the NRM once held just six MPs across 10 districts.

“Even when we did not perform well in Busoga and Buganda, we went back to the drawing board, we changed our strategy, and we are confident we are going to win this time around,” she explained.

The party is now banking on deeper grassroots mobilisation through village structures to regain lost ground.