Buganda NRM district chairpersons cry foul over mobilisation funds

MPIGI - A section of the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM), district chairpersons for Buganda region say they are dissatisfied with the party secretariat over mobilisation funds.

In a meeting held at Mpigi district NRM party office on Saturday, October 18, 2025, the angry chairpersons accused officials at the secretariat of creating a parallel structure, which was given a task to mobilise for the party support across the country, yet there are known party structures in the districts headed by the NRM district chairpersons. 

Rogers Bulegeya, the secretary NRM Buganda region district chairpersons association and also the Masaka city NRM chairperson, said they will not allow the people sent by the directorate of mobilisation to come to their areas in the name of canvassing for support for party candidates, including President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who is the official party candidate for President. 

"These people don't wish well for our party. How can you leave the known party structure and instead create a team which lacks knowledge of the areas you want to send them?" Rogers Buregeya said.

He cautioned the party's top leadership that the NRM candidates are likely to suffer defeat if they insist on going ahead with the new approach of jumping the party structure and instead deploying people from secretariat to lead the party mobilisation activities.

"We are likely to lose miserably to the Opposition if the party officials don't act quickly in addressing our concerns. We are tired of people who only appear during elections to eat money for mobilisation, yet we have been doing this work with no pay. Why do they come only when the funds for mobilisation are disbursed?" Buregeya added.

Sulaiman Kaweesi,  the party district chairperson for Mpigi, also told the party top officials to work with the district executive led by district chairpersons in mobilising the support for President Yoweri Museveni and other party candidates. 

Kaweesi said they are tired of people at the top party leadership who always create parallel structures, especially during elections, accusing them of having ulterior motives of eating money for facilitating mobilisation activities. 

We shall withdraw 

"This time, if they release funds for mobilisation to alternative structures, which they created, we shall also withdraw our efforts and leave the team from the Secretariat to do the work. These people are only after money, and once they finish sharing the funds,  they disappear, and this has cost the party highly," Kaweesi said. 

He warned that if the secretariat releases funds to the parallel structure,  they should wait to suffer another huge defeat, as it happened during the 2021 general elections, because they will also withdraw their team from mobilisation and other party activities. 

"We want to be the ones in charge of controlling the budget for mobilisation during this campaign. We are tired of people hired to come and disorganise us. This time, we are not ready to work with them if they are given full control of the budget," he added. 

No consultations

Deo Kaita, the Kalangala district NRM chairperson, said the party mobilisation department did not consult the district leadership before sending a team to their districts and that as the district structures,  they are ready to mobilise for support for the party in their respective areas if the facilitation money is channelled through the district structures. 

"The party should consider first the district structures when it comes to sending mobilisation funds. We are tired of selfish individuals who only appear in our areas during elections, and once they finish swindling the money, they disappear, " Kaita said. 

There are no funds 

However, NRM party head of mobilisation Rosemary Nansubuga Sseninde, when contacted, said it is not true that there are funds released for mobilisation that were channelled through her department, but accepted that the department of mobilisation has sent people to work with the district structures in mobilising support for the party ahead of next year's general election.

"There shouldn't be any panic in our chairpersons because there is no money released to any individual or group for mobilisation. We,  however, identified some individuals to canvas for the party's presidential candidate and other party candidates' support because this is part of our work as the department of mobilisation," Sseninde said. 

Recently, while officiating at the party's Buganda for Museveni mobilisation rally held at Mpigi Police grounds on October 12, 2025, party deputy secretary general Rosemary Namayanja Nsereko assured the district executive, led by Kaweesi, that the party's position is to leave mobilisation activities to the district executive.