President Museveni has advised Members of Parliament affiliated with the National Resistance Movement (NRM), who lost in the recent party primaries, not to contest as independents in the forthcoming general elections.
Speaking during a meeting held at State Lodge Arua, the president urged those who lost to consider the long-term implications of standing as independents, especially where there are both NRM and opposition candidates in the race.
“Where there are NRM and opposition candidates, I wouldn’t advise you to come as an independent, because if you do and things go wrong, you will be the one to blame. Where there are only NRMs in the race, even there I would prefer you use the law, so that you don’t confuse our people,” Museveni said.
The meeting was attended by Members of Parliament who had participated in the NRM primaries and lost. Some of them had declared their intention to stand as independents, while others chose to stay out of the elections.
The president was accompanied by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni.
During the engagement, some MPs expressed frustration, claiming they were cheated during the primaries. They alleged that their opponents tampered with the results and were wrongly declared winners.
In response, President Museveni acknowledged that in some cases, these MPs were provoked by selfish individuals. However, he emphasized that what matters is how they choose to respond to such provocation.
“If you are annoyed and stand as an independent while the NRM flagbearer is also contesting, and you end up splitting the vote, what if the opposition takes the constituency? How will you forgive yourself?”
He reminded them that in the previous elections, the NRM lost over 21 seats in Buganda due to internal vote splitting between independents and official flagbearers.
“So this is where you need to be very careful. You should ask yourself — should I be involved in the division of NRM? For me, I wouldn’t do that.”
“If there are three of you — two NRMs and one opposition — that would be a big problem. Now, if the race only involves NRMs, I can’t sit here as Chairman of the NRM and say go and fight it out. I will keep quiet, but when I come, I will hand the flag to the official NRM flagbearer.”
Museveni encouraged those who believe they were cheated to follow the legal route if they have proof.
“If it was an electoral offense, bring me the facts. If the results were altered, we can pursue criminal action against those involved, and they can end up in prison. Crime has no time limit — even after a year, we can act. That’s a better approach.”
“If you don’t have proof because your agents were compromised, it means there’s political work you need to do. In that case, give yourself time. Using mercenaries as your agents is risky. You should have people committed to your vision.”
The President also advised aspiring politicians not to join politics when financially unstable or to fall into debt because of political campaigns.
“You shouldn’t join politics when you are poor. The government can inject more money into parliamentary SACCOs. Take a soft loan, build yourself economically as you support NRM. Then when you’re ready, return when you’re financially stable.”
“If you have something like Shs 400 million, inject at least 40 percent into politics, not all. Don’t go into debt because of politics. That way, we can build a very stable leadership in this country.”
The meeting was also attended by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, ministers, and members of the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC), among other party leaders.
