NRM launches nationwide parish mobilisation drive as 2026 race intensifies

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The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party has launched an ambitious Parish Base Grassroot Mobilisation (PBGM) campaign, designed to push President Yoweri Museveni’s message deeper into Uganda’s grassroots ahead of the January 15, 2026, polls.

The initiative, unveiled at the party secretariat in Nakasero, a Kampala city suburb on Friday (December 5, 2025), is being framed as the most extensive and structure-driven outreach effort in the party’s history.

While launching the new drive, the party deputy secretary general Rose Namayanja Nsereko said the strategy was a result of President Museveni, who is also the party chairperson and supervised by secretary general Richard Todwong.

It was launched alongside NRM treasurer Barbara Nekesa, director information and publicity Emmanuel Dombo and director for mobilisation Rosemary Sseninde.

The development comes at a time as President Museveni continues his rapid tour across the country. Namayanja said the President’s rallies, now at 96 districts, have so far drawn “massive support” and “high enthusiasm,” which she attributed to public appreciation of NRM’s achievements over the years.

The Deputy Secretary general of NRM, Rose Namayanja (left) speaks before launching NRM parish based grassroot mobilization at NRM Secretariat Kampala on 5 Dec 2025. Right is Rose Mary Sseninde and the National Treasurer of NRM, Barbar Nekesa (center). (Photo by Ronnie Kijjambu)

“With our candidate steadily on the campaign trail, we are today launching the parish-based grassroots mobilisation strategy,” Namayanja said.

She noted that this is the second phase of their three-tier campaign: the rallies, the parish mobilisation, and the last-mile finishing phase.

Getting the message deeper

According to Namayanja, the strategy is specifically designed to carry President Museveni’s message “deeper down to the villages where the candidate may not physically reach.”

Under this arrangement, she explained that all national leaders, including former ministers, senior cadres, and recently elected party structure heads, have gone out across the country in their respective regions to convene parish-level meetings to the effect.

She noted that each parish meeting brings together 63 NRM-leaning leaders per village, drawn from official party structures and special interest group councils: youth, women, older persons, and persons with disabilities, the LCI executives majority of whom are NRM, will also be part of the teams.

“These teams are being activated to conduct parish-to-parish, village-to-village, door-to-door, and person-to-person mobilisation,” Namayanja explained.

She noted that they expect to have reached all 10,717 parishes and activated over 72,000 villages by polling day.

“With this strategy, victory for NRM is very certain,” she added.

The campaign is coordinated regionally through 21 sub-regional teams.

All senior party figures, including Dombo, Nekesa, and Seninde, have also been deployed as sub-regional leads for (Bugisu), (Bukedi), (Kampala–Wakiso) in the new drive, respectively.

Nekesa emphasised that the campaign is not a reactionary attempt to cover ground the President cannot reach, but has part of a long-term plan.

“Nothing in the NRM is accidental. We began planning for the 2026 victory in February last year when we updated the party register. We now have 20.7 million registered members,” she said.

From updating registers to conducting structure elections in all 72,000 villages, holding national conferences, and endorsing President Museveni as both the party chairman and presidential flag-bearer, Nekesa argued that the party has built a strong foundation for electoral dominance.

She stressed that the new drive is more of a structure-led campaign.

“Unlike previous elections where we had a national task force, this time the President has entrusted the campaign with the party structures, from the national level down to the village level,” she added.

She added that the parish meetings will ensure the momentum from Museveni’s rallies continues long after he leaves each district.

“This is our Joker card. We want our leaders to propagate Mzee’s message continuously until January 15,” she added.

Seninde framed the new strategy as historic, noting that some leaders in previous elections felt sidelined and unable to effectively campaign for the President.

“This time, everyone is on board, especially the newly elected structure leaders. They are the foot soldiers at the village level,” she said.

Dombo said they do not expect the party to register a single polling station where it gets zero votes, given its nationwide structures.

“If we get a zero, it will be investigated,” he noted.

He said the party's central executive committee (CEC) will be providing strategic leadership, the party secretariat coordinating operations, while the structures are to execute activities at district, parish, and village levels.