By Dean Lubowa Saava
The National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) efforts to update its membership register have hit a snag. Despite dispatching registers to over 70,000 villages for display, update, and cleaning, the grassroots teams responsible for this task have not received any financial support. This lack of facilitation has significant implications, particularly given that billions of shillings have been allocated for the exercise.
The village chairpersons, who play a crucial role in presiding over village barazas to remove ghost members, have been left empty-handed. This vulnerability creates an opportunity for financially loaded prospective candidates to compromise the chairpersons, potentially leading to the inclusion of more ghost members.
The absence of facilitation also hinders the chairpersons’ ability to mobilize residents to participate in the village barazas, where the actual cleaning of the register is supposed to take place. This scenario raises concerns about the integrity of the NRM register, which has been described as “irredeemably defective”.
The NRM’s register update exercise aims to create a credible and accurate membership list. However, without adequate support for the grassroots teams, the process is likely to be compromised. The party’s leadership, including President Yoweri Museveni, who launched the register update, must address these concerns to ensure the integrity of the exercise.
The NRM’s efforts to update its register are part of its preparations for the 2026 elections. The party has set up a registration process, which includes displaying and updating the register in all villages, followed by village barazas to verify membership. However, the lack of facilitation for grassroots teams threatens to undermine this process.
