The National Resistance Movement (NRM) has unveiled an ambitious parish-based grassroots mobilisation strategy, a renewed push to tighten its village-level political networks as the party intensifies preparations for the 2026 general elections.
Addressing journalists at the NRM Secretariat in Kampala on Friday, the Party’s Deputy Secretary General, Rosemary Namayanja, said the strategy is anchored on direct contact with village leaders to strengthen mobilisation ahead of polling day.
The approach will emphasise door-to-door engagement, village-to-village outreach and person-to-person persuasion methods that the party believes will secure a decisive victory for its Chairman and Presidential Candidate, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the incumbent.
Namayanja said the NRM has been moving steadily since the launch of the campaign trail and expressed gratitude to communities across the regions where President Museveni has held rallies.
The President began his campaign in Luwero District, before traversing Lango, West Nile, Acholi, Karamoja, Teso, Bugisu, Sebei, Bukedi, Busoga, Kigezi and Ankole. On Thursday, he began the Rwenzori Sub-region in Bunyangabu and Kasese, before heading to Ntoroko and Bundibugyo on Friday.
According to Namayanja, by the end of the day, the presidential candidate would have addressed 96 rallies in 96 districts, each marked by what she described as “massive support and enthusiasm”, a reflection, she said, of Ugandans’ appreciation of the government’s achievements over the years.
She outlined the NRM’s three-tier campaign architecture: the presidential rallies, the parish-based mobilisation strategy launched on Friday, and the imminent last-mile push. Under the parish-based phase, senior party leaders, ministers, former legislators and veteran cadres have been deployed across the country to reinforce structures at the grassroots.
These teams have already conducted pre-entry meetings at the district level and are now rolling out parish meetings attended by village leaders. At these gatherings, leaders receive messages from President Museveni, the Secretary General and other national officials, along with guidance on executing targeted mobilisation.
Namayanja revealed that the NRM expects 63 leaders from every village to participate in the mobilisation drive. Each village, she said, has 30 structure leaders, supplemented by youth council representatives, women councillors, PWD councillors, older persons’ leaders, LC1 executives and recently elected NRM flag bearers.
Together, these groups make up the teams convened at each parish, an estimated 72,000 village-level leaders that the party aims to activate across all 10,717 parishes before polling day. With this machinery in motion, Namayanja said the party is “very, very certain” of victory.
She further noted that each Secretariat leader has been assigned a sub-region to supervise: Emmanuel Dombo for Bugisu, Namayanja for Greater Luwero, Barbara Nekesa for Bukedi, and Rosemary Nansubuga Sseninde, the Director for Mobilisation, for Kampala and Wakiso. Namayanja said the entire NRM structure, from district to village, has been reactivated to deliver stronger results than in the previous term.
Speaking at the same briefing, Sseninde urged young people to understand the country’s political history and appreciate what she termed the gains registered under President Museveni’s leadership. She appealed to youths to maintain peace, avoid confrontations with security agencies and respect the rights of others during the election period.
NRM National Treasurer Barbara Nekesa said the parish-based strategy will help the party maintain campaign momentum through to polling day and encouraged leaders to consistently promote the NRM manifesto.
Meanwhile, the party’s Director for Information and Publicity, Emmanuel Dombo, cautioned local leaders that any polling station where the presidential candidate scores zero will trigger an internal investigation into the mobilisation failure.
Ugandans will vote for Presidential and Parliamentary representatives on January 15, 2026, followed by Local Government elections for councillors, mayors and district leaders.
