KAMPALA.
The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has endorsed its life time chairperson and presidential flag bearer President Museveni to contest in next year’s presidential election –which gives him a chance to rule Uganda more than any past presidents .
When Museveni Museveni wins next January polls he would have extend his rule to nearly half a century in power . On Saturday NRM electoral commission chairperson, Mr Tanga Odoi, Mr Museveni who is making 81 years in September as both the party’s flag bearer in the 2026 General Elections and the party national chairperson for the next five years.
Mr Museveni has been at the helm of Uganda since 1986 when he seized power after leading a five-year bloody guerrilla war which left over 400,000 people died in the juggles of Luweero Triangles .
In the past ,NRM has changed its constitution twice to allow Mr Museveni to extend his rule, and human rights activists have accused him of using security forces and patronage to maintain his grip on power. However, he denies the accusation. A year go , he appointed his son Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba to head the national Army-UPDF.
Moments before Mr Museveni’s motorcade snaked from Nakasero State Lodge in Kampala to the party’s electoral commission headquarters on Kyadondo Road at Plot 13, as he and his wife, Janet Museveni, who doubles as Education and Sports Minister, waved to waiting supporters in the country’s capital, several youths were rounded up by security operatives.
Speaking to NRM supporters and leaders after nomination ,Mr Museveni vowed to stamp out corruption , empower poor Ugandans to get out of poverty ,job creation , improving health care , education and getting markets for locally produced goods .
I want to thank the NRM Electoral Commission for nominating me .I hope the whole membership of the NRM and its structures ,will support my candidature as the chairman of the NRM for the 2025 -2031 and also as flag-bearer for the NRM in the Presidential contest for the next year general elections ,:he said
According to Mr Patrick Onyango , the Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson at least 16 people had been arrested and detained at Kampala Central Police Station on different charges, including puffing marijuana and being a public nuisance.
Many of the suspects, mostly youths, were arrested near Nakasero Primary School in Kampala as they waited for the president entourage .
“They were drinking waragi (alcohol) and puffing marijuana, maybe to get charged for the event (Museveni’s nomination). They are being held at Kampala Central Police Station on different charges. The event has gone on well without any major incident. Our officers are still in the field,” Mr Onyango told the Media in Kampala.