The ruling NRM party has started a campaign aimed at reclaiming its lost grip on Buganda region ahead of the forthcoming 2026 general election.
The ruling NRM party’s presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni’s performance in the January 14 polls in Buganda is one that can be summed as being dismal as he and party bigwigs including the Vice President and many other cabinet ministers were trounced, never to come back.
NRM party received a paltry 35% in the central region occupied by Buganda, whereas National Unity Platform’s Robert Kyagulanyi got 62.01% in results that many said were a message being sent out to those in charge.
The NRM also got only 31 out of the 105 parliamentary seats and nine district chairpersons in Buganda.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the NRM Vice Chairperson in charge of Buganda region, Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi said in the wake of the defeat in Buganda, the party has decided to reclaim the lost glory.
“This(defeat) was a big shock as compared to the last three general elections. This state of affairs is quite alarming and hence stimulated a lot of speculations about the underlying factors and hence a review was necessary,”Kiwanda said.
He noted that dissatisfaction in Buganda by operations of government agencies and institutions towards members of the opposition and also the high poverty levels adding that the NRM has since come up with initiatives to solve the problems.
“Now the Kisoboka community mobilization and mind set change program is aimed at having far reaching impacts on the lives of people and the society positively as far as NRM manifesto implementation for 2021-2026 is concerned,”Kiwanda said.
He said that as part of the project to reclaim the party’s lost glory in Buganda, the NRM will raise the public’s awareness and appreciation of the country’s development projects and building capacity for communities to access their needs and identify options for addressing them.
“The campaign will sensitize people to know the difference between grain and seed in terms of government programs and also link the population with government ministries and departments for better service delivery,”Kiwanda said.
Strategy
According to Kiwanda, the program dubbed “Kisoboka” a Luganda word to mean “it is possible” will be coordinated by the office of the party vice chairperson for Buganda working together with the party Secretary General in a bid to empower households to participate in sustainable development.
“This shall be done both physically through showcasing of some of the successful stories but also through media activations from time to time. The program shall run throughout the central region for the next five years unless requested by the Central Executive Committee to expand it to the entire country,”Kiwanda said.
He noted that program will be funded by the NRM party , government , NGO, the business community and other well-wishers in a bid to cause a positive change to communities in Buganda.
