This is Week Four of our series discussing the direction the country should be taking as we get closer to the end of President Museveni's last term in office SEMUJJU IBRAHIM NGANDA looks at the prospects for the nascent National Resistance Movement Organisation in the coming presidential polls

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"the biggest factor playing in the NRM-O's favour is that it holds onto instruments of state power which it uses, abuses and misuses to have its way. The army and intelligence services were used very effectively to this end in 2001."

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QUOTQION :

"The strategy of the guerilla struggle was to cause maximum chaos and destruction in order to render the government of the day very unpopular"

Lt. Gen. Kaguta Museveni (Leader of the NRA guerilla army in Luwero)
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Background

At every stage in its formation, the National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRM-O) has used state resources and the advantage of incumbency to have its way.


Speaking about the registration of the organisation in May 2003, President Museveni advised its promoters to collect a million signatures to overwhelm the Registrar General. 

"It should be a shock and awe exercise," Museveni said at the International Conference Centre where the transformation of the Movement into an organisation under the Political Parties and Organisations Act 2002 took place.

Clause 7 of the parties' law demands that for purposes of registration each party would be required, among other things, to submit a list of 50 members from at least one third of all districts. This means 950 people from 19 districts of Uganda's 56.

We could then assume that the wish for a million signatures was meant to emphasise the organisation's character as "a national, broad based, democratic, non sectarian, multi-ideological, inclusive mass organisation". 

Museveni and other members argued that initially people should not be made to pay subscription fees. Joining NRM-O is a free business affair. In keeping with the spirit of firsts the NRM-O was the first political organisation to obtain a registration certificate. 

The Registrar General, Mr Kyomuhendo Bisereko declared it duly registered on October 31, 2003. "I certify that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) has this 31st day of October in the year 2003 been duly registered pursuant to and in accordance with the provisions of the Political Parties and Organisations Act and regulations made thereunder," reads the certificate.

Of course, one of the reasons there was a rush to register was to prove mainly to the donor community that current restrictions imposed on party activity are not so stringent as to impede their ability to operate.

Note that the DP through its lawyers; Joseph Balikkudembe and Erias Lukwago petitioned the Registrar General on October 10, 2003 challenging the registration of NRM-O. The Registrar dismissed their petition. DP is in court seeking redress.

Holding back

The parties' law provides that a party, which completes registration, may after obtaining the certificate within one month elect members to the national conference (Delegates Conference). Section 10(8) of the law says structures (committees) at district level should cease to exist immediately the delegates conference is constituted.

Because of the speed with which the NRM handled registration, it was expected that by this time, they would already have held a delegates' conference and elected party leaders.

Instead there is a deafening silence from that quarter however. Sources at the Movement Secretariat say that Hajji Moses Kigongo, who was elected interim chairman, is quietly meeting former Elect Museveni Task Force members at all levels. He is also reported to be holding talks with various committees that run the Movement campaigns during the 2000 referendum on political systems.

The Secretariat's director for Information, Mr Ofwono Opondo (who is also curiously doing the same job for the NRM-O) recognised the lack of movement within the organisation in a January 27 interview.

His explanation for the delay was that a big number of NRM-O promoters are in government, which prevents them from taking an active role in the organisation.

He said that the Attorney General Mr Francis Ayume is an NRM promoter but he is required in court to defend government in an appeal case challenging the ruling of the constitutional court that declared the Movement a political organisation and not a political system. The same court nullified sections 18 and 19 of the parties law.

He said that Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Hajjat Janat Mukwaya is in charge of various political processes and if she proceeded to recruit members people would complain that she has administrative advantages over her competitors. Museveni himself is still in army although he has applied to retire. The parties' law prohibits serving soldiers from engaging in partisan political activity.

Things, according to Ofwono, may take a while to take off more visibly but that does not mean that underground partisan mobilisation is not underway - and with the full benefit of state resources.

Legal hurdles 

Speaking to The Monitor on February 2, DP lawyer Mr Erias Lukwago re-affirmed that five cases either against the NRM-O and the Movement or by it are still pending.

The first case was filed by DP contesting the Referendum (Political Systems) Act that was hurriedly enacted in 2000 immediately after the Constitutional Court had nullified the first Referendum and Other Provisions Act, 1999, under which the referendum on political systems was held in 2000.

The second case before High Court also filed by the DP is challenging the registration of NRM-O. The third challenges the continued funding of the Movement Secretariat ever since court declared on March 21, 2003 that it is an organisation and not a political system as envisaged in the 1995 Constitution.

The other case is an appeal in the Supreme Court lodged by Attorney General against the nullification, as unconstitutional, of sections 18 and 19 of the parties' act (those sections barred political parties from sponsoring, offering platforms or campaigning for candidates during presidential and parliamentary elections etc. Or carrying out activities that "may interfere with the operation of the Movement system").

The final case was filed by UPC, JEEMA, National Democrats Forum, The Free Movement against the parties law in its entirety. The above cases have slowed down activities of forming the NRM party.

Most significantly, the cases in a way are likely to re-shape the political processes. For example, if the parties' law is annulled, the registration of NRM-O would inevitably become null and void. It is, therefore, only wise not to elect leaders under a law whose legitimacy is under serious onslaught.

State resources

Money oils elections and Museveni has generally encouraged the heavy monetisation of the election processes in Uganda during his reign. Money works and the NRM plans to construct a "Movement House" similar to Uganda House of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC). May be the new changes it would be called NRM House.

The former Elect Museveni Task Force offices at Plot 10 Kyadondo Road, Kampala houses the party offices. The party registered 13 vehicles and two motorcycles with the registrar general. It also registered 26 spoons, seven sauce dishes and one frying pan.

These are but the ceremonial property of the party. In truth, it has the capacity to acquire a lot of property. "Movement has a strong base mainly the local people. It is massively popular with good programmes like UPE and policies," said Ofwono.

He said programmes like poverty eradication, human rights, defence and security have made NRM-O the most loveable party. Ofwono said that DP is not a dependable counterweight against the much more organised UPC which fact has in a way forced many Ugandans to join the Movement.

He pointed out that of the 56 district chairmen only three; John Ssebaana Kizito (Kampala), Ben O. (Apac) and Franco Ojur (Lira) belong to the opposition. He said almost all MPs belong to the Movement and so are the sub-county chairmen. 

What Ofwono never mentioned was that under the suspicious Movement Act, all district chairman were conscripted into the Movement National Conference and National Executive Committee.

He said that even MPs who have grievances like; Maj. John Kazoora, Capt. Charles Byaruhanga and Capt. Guma Gumisiriza have no option but to support the Movement if they want to retain their seats. 

Choices in 2006 

Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Ms Hope Mwesigye said in an interview last month that Movement has a wide field to choose from although she clearly is of the view that Museveni is the "best shooter" to lead the campaign post-2006.

Vice President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya countrywide "poverty alleviation" tours would seem to confirm the suspicion that the incumbent government wants to raise his public profile.

Hajji Kigongo is almost a household name but one who has largely worked in the shadows. The major drawback is that he did not go very far in school. To get around this Museveni has recently been denigrating academic qualifications as a basis for determining who can or cannot run for elective office.

Minister of Defence Mr Amama Mbabazi, the man who accused retired Col. Kizza Besigye of "jumping the queue" when he ran against Museveni in 2001, is another possible.

And then the hardline National Political Commissar, Dr Crispus Kiyonga completes the immediate picture.

Mbabazi is not a popular man because the general feeling in and out of government is that he arrogant, dismissive and hugely self-opinionated. But he is slowly recreating himself. Time will tell whither he is headed.

The Movement, like other political groups, does not have much to work with in name of a candidate from the demographically significant central region. If it came to fronting a Muganda as a candidate then money would be a major campaign in that campaign.

But the biggest factor playing in the NRM-O's favour is that it holds onto instruments of state power which it uses, abuses and misuses to have its way. The army and intelligence services were used very effectively to this end in 2001.


"The strategy of the guerilla struggle was to cause maximum chaos and destruction in order to render the government of the day very unpopular"

Lt. Gen. Kaguta Museveni (Leader of the NRA guerilla army in Luwero)

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