The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party on Friday, May 23, concluded its leadership restructuring exercise from the grassroots to the district level, setting the stage for next year’s highly anticipated general election.
The internal party elections, from the village to the district levels, have so far been a revelation of both might and mass power, with almost unprecedented enthusiasm punctuating the exercise across the country.
The most salient and noteworthy observation from the elections has been the enormous turnout everywhere, including areas previously thought to be opposition strongholds. In Kampala, for example, enthusiastic members of the ruling side braved exceedingly long queues to vote for their favorite candidates, a clear statement of trust in the party’s ideology and its leadership.
In other areas such as Luuka, Ssembabule, Kiryandongo, and Rubaga, among others, one could easily mistake the polls for presidential elections. Whereas there have been flashes of intense competition in these areas, which many naysayers have striven to portray as chaos, I would rather classify it as favorable competition arising from the ever-growing mass support for the party.
Yet, for the majority of this month of May, up until September, the party will continue to gain momentum as it concludes the establishment of its leadership structures up to the district level. This will then be preceded by the identification of flag bearers for parliamentary seats, higher local governments, the Central Executive Committee, and ultimately the presidential flag bearer at the Namboole National Conference.
Throughout all these engagements, stakeholders will have unrestricted access to present the NRM’s message to the electorate at the grassroots. While counterparts resort to arguably time- and resource-saving, shallow-based candidate selection methods to arrive at torchbearers, the yellow party is focusing on utilizing every available opportunity to transmit its message far and wide well ahead of time.
The enthusiasm with which the public has responded to the month-long activities has given birth to another question to be answered by the party and its top executives: how to actualize the same zeal come election day next year.
With crowds exhibiting such eagerness to participate in the elections, focus will move toward reciprocating this same enthusiasm in the general election, which has been elusive in past general elections.
If only SG. Todwong and Dr. Tanga Odoi can strategize well to entice the majority of the NRM membership to the polling station come next January, then their challengers wouldn’t stand a chance.
The writer is the Deputy RCC for Nakawa Division in Kampala.
