Published on 12/03/2025
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, National Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), rallied Kawempe North voters to choose a political party with real solutions to their challenges.
Museveni emphasized the National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s track record in addressing local concerns. Museveni called for unity and informed decision-making in the upcoming election.
“First of all, elect a party which understands your problems. If you don’t do that, you will not get a solution. Therefore, don’t look at Nambi, look at the party first. And when you are listening to the campaigns, listen to whether the party understands your problems and has got the capacity to solve them,” he said.
The President made the remarks today while campaigning for Ms. Faridah Nambi, the NRM flag bearer for the Kawempe North parliamentary seat during a public rally at Mbogo Muslim Primary School grounds. The seat fell vacant following the death of the area MP Hon. Muhammad Ssegirinya in January,2025.
The polls will be held on Thursday 13th March 2025.
According to President Museveni, the people of Kawempe need to vote for a legislator who works with the government so that he/she can easily lobby for them, thus improving service delivery in the area.
“If you want your problems to be solved, you need to elect a Member of Parliament who works well with the government.”
The President further noted that from the beginning, the NRM government knew what to do to help Ugandans prosper.
“The Kawempe you are talking about; I know it very well. I was ambushing Obote vehicles at Kawanda, Matugga, Kigogwa, Sanga and I had a camp in Nansana and Namugongo. Now all those areas like Kawanda, Matugga, Sanga and Kigogwa which were bushes are now full of factories,” he said.
“Those factories are part of the solutions to your problems because they create jobs for you and market for your products. Since those factories are near you, you should ensure you benefit from them. Those factories came because of the stability of the NRM. They came because of the electricity to run them. So, you can see that NRM from the beginning was aware of your problems.”
President Museveni also urged the people of Kawempe to work towards creating wealth to improve their livelihoods.
“We can talk about development in general like the tarmac roads, Kawempe hospital, electricity but at night you don’t sleep on the tarmacked road, you sleep in your house and when you get back to your house you find the problems you left there in the morning, are there waiting for you,” he said.
President Museveni further highlighted several solutions that the NRM government came up with to solve the problems of Ugandans. The solutions include peace, free education in government schools, prosperity for all and imparting technical skills to the youth to deal with the challenge of unemployment.
“That’s why we are telling you to listen carefully to the NRM. The first medicine apart from peace was free education in government schools but the efforts have been frustrated by some people at the grassroot level. Part of the solution to your problems is free education in government schools. Therefore, elect this young girl Nambi so that she comes and implements it at the local level. Free education will solve a lot of problems in our families,” he urged.
“Another solution to your problems is Bonna bagagawale (Prosperity for all). The question was how do we start? Right from the 1990s, we have been putting money for you like Entandikwa, NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation, Emyooga and Parish Development Model (PDM).”
The President further disclosed that the government was going to increase the PDM fund to parishes in towns so that a sizable number of people are able to benefit from the program.
“The Prime Minister who has been here for the last few days has reported to me that the Shs100m we are sending to the Parish is not enough since there are many households. In some of the villages the money can make an impact because people are few unlike in towns like here. So now we are going to put more money in towns,” he said.
“The question however is why are your Members of Parliament you have been electing have not brought it up?” he wondered.
The First Vice Chairperson of NRM, Alhajji Moses Kigongo thanked President Museveni for physically campaigning for the party flagbearer for Kawempe North parliamentary seat.
He also lauded the residents of Kawempe North for supporting the NRM party.
“Today you have gathered here in big numbers to show that we can win this by-election. NRM fronted Faridah Nambi as its candidate. Let us support her so that she can win this seat,” he said.
On her part, Ms. Nambi informed the President that they have been mobilising support using the door-to-door method and assured him that it’s the best method for campaigning.
She also assured President Museveni that victory belongs to her and the NRM party on the election day.
“I thank the people of Kawempe for supporting the NRM party. Thank you for coming in big numbers.”
On the other hand, during the rally, 186 people defected from the opposition’s National Unity Platform (NUP) to NRM.
Mr. Mutebi Edrisa, the leaders of the defectors informed President Museveni that by joining NRM, they have seen the light.
The rally was also attended by the Prime Minister, Rt. Hon Robinah Nabbanja, Ministers, among other leaders.
