Members of the youth cadres front wing of the National Resistance Movement have raised concerns over alleged corruption within the ruling party’s structures and called on President Museveni to order an investigation and audit of the party secretariat following the recently concluded national elections.
The National Coordinator of the NRM Youth Cadres Front, Emmanuel Nahamya, accused some party officials of embezzling funds that were meant to facilitate grassroots mobilisation.
“We need to have an audit of the money, the grassroots money that was released to help people transport voters. You saw that we had a low voter turnout, which is highly condemned by cadres of NRM. As NRM youth, we think the problems and challenges that are affecting young people are general,” Nahamya said.
He added that the challenges facing young people cut across political divides and require collective action.
“They don't segregate whether you are from NUP, FDC or whichever party. We must stand as one family and fight the challenges that are affecting us — corruption and the neglect of young people in the struggle. As young people, we feel that we should take charge of this country because we have been neglected for a very long time,” he said.
Nahamya also expressed concern over what he described as the collapse of cadreship identification within the party.
“As a party, we no longer have cadreship identification. The identification replacement has died at NRM. We have very many cadres that can be recruited within this country, and we fight corruption that has taken up all public offices. As young people, we feel that this is the time we wage a war against corruption,” he said.
Another youth cadre, Ivan Mwijukye, called for an audit of government wealth-creation initiatives such as the Parish Development Model and Emyooga, programmes introduced to tackle unemployment among youth and women.
“His Excellency, you were blindfolded by PDM officials. People are not receiving one million because this has been diverted to Wendi and other platforms which tax that money that you give to the Ugandans. It is supposed to be one million but people receive Sh500,000 [to] Shs600,000. What are we fighting for?” Mwijukye said.
Daniel Habaasa, another youth leader, urged President Museveni to audit grassroots mobilisation funds channeled through the NRM secretariat.
“What is at the NRM secretariat is something else. We need an audit. The media personnel and many of the institutions at the secretariat were not paid,” Habaasa said.
Habaasa further revealed that the NRM youth cadres wing plans to stage a peaceful march to the European Union headquarters in Kampala next week to protest what they described as interference in Uganda’s electoral process.
“Recently, we saw the European Parliament discussing the past elections. We are saying we got independence in 1962. As Uganda, we are independent. We had observers here. We don't want any lectures from the European Union. We are going to take a letter today to the IGP requesting a peaceful protest walk to the European Union on Wednesday,” he said.
When contacted for comment, the Director of Information and Publicity at the NRM Secretariat, Mr Emmanuel Lumala Dombo, advised aggrieved members to channel their concerns through the party’s central leadership.
“It’s true at some point the facilitation of the campaign resources changed under the guidance of the National Chairman as well as the Central Executive Committee (CEC) that resources were distributed to the structural-led mobilisation groups. Therefore, if anyone missed out they can reach out to the responsible offices of the party,” Dombo said.
He added that members with grievances should contact the party’s Secretary General, who serves as the central coordinator, rather than airing complaints publicly in a manner that could tarnish the party’s image.
