INSIGHTS: Why NRM lost Dokolo Woman MP seat, again

The problem is that the party incentivises candidates who run independently: they're bought off with cash, and sometimes, with political appointments.

By Odongo Lango

INSIGHTS | Steven Covey, in his book, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", stated that, before embarking on any project or great endeavour, sharpen the saw.

Further, the famous American President, Abraham Lincoln, was attributed to have said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”

Indeed, the NRM politburo learnt nothing and forgot nothing from the disastrous Oyam North by-elections.

Bedevilled with a Soviet style “central planning” mentality, the big wigs from Plot 10 Kyadondo, the NRM Secretariat, descended into Dokolo, bypassing Lira City, the heartbeat of politics in Lango.

There's a mantra that politics in Lango is made and unmade from Lira.

Secondly, the NRM still suffers from its chronic illness: independent NRM leaning candidates.

The problem is that the party incentivises candidates who run independently: they're bought off with cash, and sometimes, with political appointments.

This is the reason the NRM primary field is always crowded.

The NRM Secretariat needs to make running independently attract a high negative cost: you get ostracized from the party. Appeasement, as former British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain found out, is never a winning policy.

The NRM rewards indiscipline in the party and suffers the consequences.

In the FDC, for example, as Ingrid Turinawe found out to her chagrin, you get de-registered from the party for running independently after participating in the FDC primaries.

But, of course we need to address the elephant in the room, the Grand Old Party: UPC. Resurgent from its recent victories in Oyam, UPC, with her marquee leader, the former first son, Jimmy Akena, smelt blood in the political waters, and like hungry sharks, pounced, exploiting the organisational weaknesses in the NRM.

With a large field diluted by FDC and independent candidates (NUP) people, please forgive me, you don't factor in any political permutations in Lango), a solidly united UPC, started celebrations even before the votes were counted with their provocative erotic dances where women exhibited their naked breasts before voters.

Curiously, the high and mighty in the NRM ignored and did not utilise the organisational structure and power of the Patriotic League of Uganda, a civic group affiliated with the NRM, and headed by first son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

The PLU in Lango is a highly disciplined and organised entity that attracts membership across party lines.

Despite frantic eleventh-hour phone calls, this unit was not activated to salvage the situation.

Lastly, the NRM failed to retain its institutional memory.

In the last presidential election, the Elect-Yoweri Museveni media team were highly coordinated and deployed new persuasive faces and voices who were articulate in counterbalancing the opposition propaganda but also made the wanainchi to understand and appreciate the talking points of Team Museveni.

There was no media coordination to ensure that the NRM message was heard and defended by competent people.

Preoccupied with infighting from the so-called independent NRM leaning candidates, the party lost the ball and the momentum to the UPC red wave, despite the pure fantasy they were selling to the voters.

The NRM has to introspect deeply and hark back to its revolutionary methodologies.

The party have high quality candidates and ideas for the people. The party needs to start thinking hard about its future and its place in the Uganda of tomorrow.

The party top honchos spend too much time on superficiality and appearances.

I will not comment on recently bungled NRM membership updates. I always say, you don't need 10 liters of blood to check whether someone is sick of malaria. You just need a mere drop.

The party is ailing. Perhaps we're not using the sharpest tools in the shed to do the job.

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Mr Odongo Lango (0782 895 755) mobilises for PLU in Lango sub-region, and he was part of President Museveni's media team in the 2021 elections