President Museveni has questioned police inaction in the face of alleged opposition intimidation, claiming it discouraged millions of ruling National Resistance Movement supporters from voting for him during the January 15 presidential election .
Museveni was speaking at annual celebrations marking 40 years of NRM rule in Kampala. It was his first major public appearance in the capital since the election, after spending much of the past two weeks at his Rwakitura residence, Gomba State Lodge, and in western Uganda.
He said police failed to restrain what he described as threatening rhetoric during the campaign, creating fear that kept voters away.
“We’re celebrating a big victory in politics. I got about 8 million votes but 10 million of my NRM supporters didn’t turn up. On May 6, 2025, when we registered our voters, we had 21 million members. Eighteen million were old enough to vote… but now I got 8 million votes. So where are my six million votes?” Museveni asked.
‘Tying Museveni on us’
The former guerrilla leader, who opted for the bush after disputing the 1980 election and launched a five-year insurgency that brought him to power in 1986, said some supporters stayed away after opposition figures accused them of “imposing” Museveni on the country — language police, he argued, should not have tolerated.
“…that you are the ones ‘tying’ this man [Museveni] on us? Who has heard that slogan or claim? You have no right to say that. Why would police hear this and keep quiet?” Museveni said, describing this as the first reason his supporters failed to turn up.
Museveni’s comments came amid sustained international scrutiny of Uganda’s security forces over their conduct during and after the presidential election period.
“My suspicion is that the opposition threatening violence… and then the police doing nothing about them… people misbehaving and police does nothing about it,” Museveni said.
“Why should you attack anybody because of elections? What right do you have to even use harsh words?” he added.
Following Uganda’s election, the African Union observer mission, led by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said heightened security deployment and police operations disenfranchised voters, particularly in opposition strongholds such as Kampala.
“Reports of intimidation, arrests and abductions of opposition leaders, candidates, supporters, media and civil society actors by the security forces instilled fear and eroded public trust in the electoral process,” the mission said in a report updated on January 18.
The United Nations human rights office also criticized Uganda’s security forces for what it described as excessive force against opposition supporters during the campaign and voting period.
Yet post-election tensions have since intensified. Uganda’s military chief, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said in controversial posts on X on Friday that authorities had detained 2,000 opposition supporters, killed 30 people and were searching for more following the disputed vote.
‘Selfish NRM leaders’
Museveni, who has now extended his rule into a fifth decade, officially won just under 72% of the vote in the January 15 election, while opposition leader Bobi Wine took 24% in a race of eight candidates.
The Electoral Commission said turnout stood at 52.50 percent of Uganda’s 21.6 million registered voters, with 275,353 ballots recorded as invalid.
On Monday, Museveni argued that a second reason for the low turnout of his supporters lay within his own party.
“The other reason is infighting amongst NRM leaders. They cause division amongst our people and end up excusing themselves from voting,” he said, warning: “We must watch these two groups; the opposition, who use a terrorist approach, and our own people in NRM, who are undisciplined and selfish.”
A heightened post-election crackdown has targeted senior opposition figures, even as opposition leader Bobi Wine remains in hiding.
He was last seen in his ancestral Gomba District in a video recorded on January 25 and shared the following day.
Despite the ongoing unjustified manhunt by the criminal regime, I am grateful to the common people who I meet daily for trying to shield me and keep me safe. Yesterday as I travelled to Gomba District to pay a visit to our home and check on my relatives, I passed by many
Muwanga Kivumbi, a lawmaker and deputy president of Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP), was detained last week, while two other senior NUP officials have been reported missing for days. Kyagulanyi has cited threats to his safety for staying out of public view.
Last Friday, Kivumbi appeared in court in Butambala where he was charged with terrorism and remanded in custody until February 3. He did not enter a plea due to the gravity of the case.
Despite the tensions, Museveni on Monday insisted the ruling party remained firmly in control.
“However, we ‘Baganda’ say what doesn’t kill a Muhima can’t finish his cattle. Since NRM is still strong, we are going to correct these two groups [NRM infighters and opposition].”
He added: “I hear our opposition wasting time. If you don’t know Uganda, you can really waste time. They are lucky all my supporters didn’t turn up. If they’d turned up, there would be no opposition in Uganda.”