Another man sues NRM for failure to organize party structure polls

Another aggrieved NRM member has sued the ruling political party and its leadership for failure to organize elections for its own structures.

In a suit before the civil division of the High Court in Kampala, Isaac Akampurira Rukanda says he is a member of the NRM but adds his own party has failed to organize internal elections since 2016 which he says is contrary to the party constitution.

“NRM and its secretary general  have failed to organize these elections citing Covid as the reason , despite the fact that presidential and parliamentary elections were successfully  conducted during the same period without hinderance from Covid,” Akampurira says in his affidavit.

He says this act is a neglect of the NRM and its secretary general ,adding that the continued stay in office of the leaders of the party structures without being elected is illegal is a contravention of the party constitution.

“I have made several attempts to address this issue with the respondents including a letter dated September, 9, 2023 but my efforts have been ignored.”

He now wants court to declare that the failure by NRM, its secretary general and chairperson of its electoral commission to conduct internal party elections is violation of his civic rights guaranteed by the constitution.

Akampurira also wants court to declare that NRM party officials who continue to hold office beyond their elective term which expired in 2021 are currently occupying these positions unlawfully.

Early this year,  Daniel Obal an NRM member  dragged the party Youth League, elders’ league, workers’ league, entrepreneurs’ league, veteran’s league, PWDs’ league and women’s league to court for being  in office since 2020 without the party conducting elections to vote for new leaders.

Addressing journalists in Kampala on Tuesday, Akampurira described himself as the team leader of  the Revivalist Movement of the NRM, a pressure and activist group he said was  founded by young cadres and patriots within the NRM.

“Our mission is to restore the NRM’s founding principles of democracy, transparency, accountability, and inclusivity—values that have been abandoned in recent years. We are confident that the NRM is the strongest and most transformative political organization Uganda has ever known but if the leadership of the NRM that the national chairman  appointed, does not change the way it handles internal affairs, NRM wont remain the strongest party that it has been for decades,” Akampurira said.

He said it is misleading for some party leaders to claim that NRM Central Executive Committee has powers to indefinitely postpone elections for a longer period.

“This is false because  the CEC, after consultations, can only extend term of service for only six months while the EC of NRM organizes elections. The Revivalist Movement firmly believes that this issue is not just a procedural failure but a deliberate neglect of responsibility, which threatens the future of our party.”

Akampurira said by pursuing the case filled in court, they  aim to compel the leadership to fulfill their obligations under the law and the party’s constitution.

He called for sweeping changes within the ruling NRM party.