NRM primaries: Museveni directs members not in party register to vote

President Museveni, who is also the NRM national chairman has directed that all party members with cards but not necessarily in the party register should be allowed to take part in their forthcoming primaries.

In a letter to all NRM branch executive committees; it is the duty of every member of the party to take part in its activities, including elections as enshrined in their constitution.

“Therefore, in exercise of the powers granted to the chairman under Article 14 of the Constitution, I hereby offer guidance that all members of NRM whose names appear on the register shall be allowed to vote.  Any NRM member whose name is not on the party register shall be immediately added to the register and permitted to vote if the person is 18 and above,” Museveni said in a September 2, 2020 letter.

Museveni said village executive committees should verify that the person added onto the register is a member of NRM in that village and that where there are no registers, the village committee shall verify and register all members eligible to vote.

Rationale

The NRM national chairman explained that his decision was informed by several complaints regarding the non- existence of registers in some villages and the exclusion from the registers of a significant number of party members.

According to Museveni, the exclusion of some members from the party register was done during the process of compiling the national register.

“This issue can be resolved if we stick to the principles and policies of the NRM party that are contained in our constitution. This activity can be handled transparently, either prior to or on the voting day by the branch and should not be a source of conflict,” Museveni said.

Museveni’s directives come on the backdrop of several reports of names of NRM members missing from the party register.

In Serere, it was reported that over 2000 names were missing from the party register whereas in many other areas around the country, there have been several concerns over missing names.

The ruling NRM party will on Friday go into its primaries where members will elect their parliamentary flag bearers for the positions of district woman representatives to Parliament and constituency MPs.