2026 polls: NRM bigwigs rush for parliament and LC posts

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There were long queues on Tuesday (June 17) as the National Resistance Movement (NRM) electoral commission embarked on the nomination of LC5 chairpersons, city mayors, Lord Mayor and MPs.

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, her deputies Gen. Moses Ali, the second deputy Prime Minister and Lukia Nakadama, the third deputy prime minister, joined bigwigs like Thomas Tayebwa, the deputy speaker of parliament, plus Minister of Internal Affairs Kahinda Otafiire, for the nomination of representatives in parliament and district chairpersons in the forthcoming party primaries slated for July.

Minister of Internal Affairs Kahinda Otafiire.

Gen. Moses Ali, the second deputy Prime Minister (in car) after nomination.

Nomination for Members of Parliament, LCV Chairpersons, Lord Mayors, and City Mayors is taking place at the Party Electoral Commission Offices in Kampala, while nomination for Local Government Council positions is taking place at the district NRM offices across the country.

The exercise that started on Tuesday, 17th, will run to 30th June this year.

The NRM party offices at Kyadondo Road remain a beehive of activity as several cabinet ministers and party stalwarts rush for the nomination forms.

Jane Ruth Aceng, the Health Minister, Hanifa Kawooya, the state minister of General duties at the same ministry and Minister of Agriculture Frank Tumwebaze, vying for constituency seats, joined the queue on Tuesday.

Other party wigs were: Esther Anyakun, the state minister for Gender, Atim Anywar, Henry Musasizi, the state minister for General duties at the ministry of finance, Phiona
Nyamutoro, the state minister for mineral development, Diana Mutasingwa, Mwine Mpaka, among others.

Phiona Nyamutoro, the state minister for mineral development.

Henry Musasizi, the state minister for General duties at the ministry of finance.

Earlier in the week, the list endorsed included:  Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, the Vice President Jessica Alupo, Security Minister Jim Muhwezi, Lillian Akello, the state minister for ethics and Chris Baryomunsi, who were nominated before the official nomination date "We had had a very long day. By 5:00 pm, a number of candidates were still waiting for the party's electoral commission chairperson, Tanga Odoi, to nominate them.

We shall accommodate all of them in time.  The nomination exercise will run until June 30. Campaigns ran from July 2-15 and later got to the polls on July 17", said Ambassador James Kinobe, a commissioner with the party EC electoral commission.

He also revealed that by the closure of last week, the EC  had a total of 2718 candidates who had picked nomination forms. Of these, 1579 candidates were aspiring to be constituency members of parliament, 586 district Woman MPs, and 553 LC5 chairpersons, Lord Mayor and City Mayors.

Why re-election

PM Nabbanja

"I have done a lot since I joined parliament in 2011. Under the NRM government, a lot of achievements have been achieved adding Kakumiro district has been connected to other districts by tarmac roads. But we need health centres in all the sub-counties of Kakumiro. We have five sub-counties without health centres. We also need to increase the literacy levels in the district. These are some of the major reasons why I am coming back.".

Maj. Gen. Otafiire:  

A total of 39 villages in Ruhinda County do not have access to clean water.  We are remaining with about 15% of the constituency to be electrified. We have persuaded the government to build us a district hospital road and the Mitooma-Rukungiri road. These are some of the projects that I have not completed but need to complete,” Otafiire said.

I also wish to caution that unless the Government integrates the Parish Development Model and Wealth Creation with value addition, such interventions will not yield any fruits and many Ugandans will remain in that sack of peasantry,” Otafiire said.

Tumwebaze:

Although success has been recorded in Education, Health, Electricity, Water coverage, among others, there is a lot that hasn’t been completed in my constituency, Kibale East.

My area of emphasis this term is household income. I will establish a constituency nursery bed with a capacity of producing half a million coffee seedlings.

Molly Asiimwe, MP for Rwampara district

I'm seeking re-election because the majority of the wealth creation projects that I started are still midway.

I'm the best candidate to accomplish this venture for our district.

Beatrice Akello, state minister for economic monitoring

As a woman MP for Agago district, my agenda includes following up on some of the incomplete government programs in Agago.