The National Resistance Movement (NRM) secretariat leadership on Thursday, June 15, concluded their mobilization and sensitization tour of the Wakiso district.
The tour was part of the meetings launched last month in some parts of Buganda and Busoga aimed at creating a platform for discussion of manifesto implementation and service delivery as well as bridging the information and communication gap between the party secretariat and grassroots structures.
Speaking during the conclusion of the mobilization tour at Entebbe Botanical Gardens, the party’s director for communication, Emmanuel Dombo, said only unity will ensure the party regains its glory, especially in Buganda, calling upon party leaders at all levels to remain united.
“The NRM has to get back to the top in Buganda region but this will only happen when we are united as a party and we work as a team,” Dombo said, adding: “NRM will only grow if we recruit new members from different parties. So we have to retain our members while recruiting new ones from all over the country."
“We are sorry as a secretariat for things that have not gone well. We have embarked on a mission to streamline our operations and avoid a repeat of acts that have negatively affected our party in the past. So, we urge you to reconcile with each other as we move together," Dombo rallied leaders.
The former legislator said it is high time leaders focused on service delivery rather than politicking if the party is to continue to grow, calling upon leaders to embrace government programmes to fight poverty among their people.
“I urge you, leaders, to advise our people to embrace government programmes. This is the only way our people will lift themselves out of poverty,” Dombo said.
"When elections are done, let all of us come down to work for the people. I urge all elected leaders all over the country irrespective of our political affiliations to work for the people. The President has advised us to mobilise our people with interest. Let us not mobilise poor people," Dombo advised.
He further called upon leaders to use all channels of communication to publicize government programmes to the people they lead.
”Our role as government is to ensure that we deliver what we promised in the NRM manifesto. But we have established that there is a lot of work that the government has done but we have few people explaining these achievements, so I urge you to take the lead in that," Dombo said.
Kiwanda warns on land grabbing
The NRM Vice Chairperson for Central Region, Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi, called upon leaders to reconcile and avoid divisions within the party, a thing he said greatly affected its performance in the general elections.
“Entebbe Municipality has always been our constituency but we lost it as a result of divisions within our party. We now need to find ways to reclaim it back. This is the reason why the party secretariat has come up with these mobilisation meetings at the constituency level early enough so that we can identify our problems and provide the right solutions before the next general elections,” Kiwanda said.
He further called upon party leaders to join their hands and work with the office of the RDC in fighting land grabbing in the district.
“We lost elections in Buganda region due to the land wrangles that the people are facing, where land grabbers are evicting bonafide land owners from their land. We, therefore, have to work as a team to fight land grabbing in our areas with the help of the RDC's office.”