NRM must worry about rural areas too
May 31, 2010
EDITOR— As I read Moses Byaruhanga’s article “Mukono election was not between Mengo and NRM†published in The New Vision of May 27, Mukono North MP-elect Betty Nambooze was being hosted on TV. Anyone who read that article and watched Nambooze’s interview couldn’t have missed the glarin
EDITOR— As I read Moses Byaruhanga’s article “Mukono election was not between Mengo and NRM†published in The New Vision of May 27, Mukono North MP-elect Betty Nambooze was being hosted on TV. Anyone who read that article and watched Nambooze’s interview couldn’t have missed the glaring reflection between the two.
While Byaruhanga laboured to explain why the NRM performs poorly in any election held in the urban areas, Nambooze asserted that villagers are easily duped, lack information and are prone to intimidation.
Contrary to Byaruhanga, a prominent and respected NRM cadre’s long held opinion of the all-conquering NRM, his admission that things are not as rosy as he often writes is shocking.
One could think he has finally woken from a long dream. Access to information notwithstanding, the real problems we face in this country are visible and manifest first to those who live in any urban setting. The people that dwell in rural Uganda only suffer the after-effects.
To use the analogy of a palatial house in Byaruhanga’s view, ours is a house in which the living rooms are dirty but the bedrooms cleaner! Granted, NRM’s strategists must now shift focus to win urban support but they should equally worry about waning support in the rural setting which forms the majority of Uganda’s population.
And whereas the NRM’s present support is massive in the rural and illiterate poor (something not to be proud of), urbanisation, rural-urban migration and information penetration will surely change the dynamics. Congratulations to the Mukono North winner, voters and the Electoral Commission but it is back to work for NRM cadres who must wake up!
tuhurira Atuhurira@engineer.com
While Byaruhanga laboured to explain why the NRM performs poorly in any election held in the urban areas, Nambooze asserted that villagers are easily duped, lack information and are prone to intimidation.
Contrary to Byaruhanga, a prominent and respected NRM cadre’s long held opinion of the all-conquering NRM, his admission that things are not as rosy as he often writes is shocking.
One could think he has finally woken from a long dream. Access to information notwithstanding, the real problems we face in this country are visible and manifest first to those who live in any urban setting. The people that dwell in rural Uganda only suffer the after-effects.
To use the analogy of a palatial house in Byaruhanga’s view, ours is a house in which the living rooms are dirty but the bedrooms cleaner! Granted, NRM’s strategists must now shift focus to win urban support but they should equally worry about waning support in the rural setting which forms the majority of Uganda’s population.
And whereas the NRM’s present support is massive in the rural and illiterate poor (something not to be proud of), urbanisation, rural-urban migration and information penetration will surely change the dynamics. Congratulations to the Mukono North winner, voters and the Electoral Commission but it is back to work for NRM cadres who must wake up!
tuhurira Atuhurira@engineer.com