NRM protests unfulfilled pledges, PDM cash abuse

A section of National Resistance Movement (NRM) party leaders and supporters have petitioned the Office of National Chairman (ONC), protesting corruption in the government poverty alleviation programmes and unfulfilled pledges.
Hundreds of NRM supporters who gathered in Kasangati Town, Wakiso District, on Wednesday, asked Ms Hadijah Namyalo, the head of ONC and NRM Bazzukulu group, to remind the President to fulfil the pledges before the 2026 elections.

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Ms Hanifa Nsubuga, the NRM women leader in Kasangati, said: “The President promised us two mini buses and Shs50 million for our Sacco group in 2012 but none of his promises came to pass.”
Ms Jane Babirye, an NRM supporter in Kasangati, said: “My husband suffered a stroke while transporting the NRM supporters in various parishes of Kyadondo. The President handled all his hospital charges but in 2022, the provisions stopped coming through and the hospital sent us away because of the overly accumulated bills.”

The party members in Kasangati cited Shs1.5 billion the President promised the youth in the area during the 2016 presidential campaigns, 20 motorcycles to the boda boda riders association in Kasangati, one ambulance, and tarmacking of Wampewo-Kiteezi road, among others.
Mr Bashir Ssemanda, a boda boda rider, said:  “Mr Museveni promised in writing to give a sum of Shs300,000 to every youth in our Sacco. Our Sacco has 5,000 members and this amounts to Shs1.5 billion. The minister without portfolio was supposed to hand us this pledge but up to now, nothing has come of it.”

Illegal evictions
In the meeting, NRM members also cited illegal evictions in Wakiso and other parts of the country, as one of the major challenges the party faces in the central region. They also called for urgent land reforms that give Bibanja holders security of tenure.      
In response, Ms Namyalo said: “I am going to take everything to the President and follow up on all the pledges.”
“Sometimes there are delays in verifying the pledges and processing the payments but eventually the President delivers,” she assured the members.

The party members led by Ms Namyalo and other officials from Kampala and Wakiso districts also endorsed Jajja Tova Ku Main campaign by the NRM Bazzukulu.
They praised Mr Museveni’s leadership credentials and warned against “confusion and disunity” within the ruling party.
According to a report compiled by the House Committee on Government Assurances in 2013, the President had not delivered on 817 pledges to Ugandans, since coming to power in 1986.

 PDM cash
The ruling party members also decried bureaucracy in terms of accessing the parish Development Model (PDM) funds meant to alleviate poverty at the grassroots.
Ms Namyalo explained that the “Government releases huge amounts of money annually to fight poverty but the corruption and the long processes in government institutions keep Ugandans from accessing these funds.”
She asked the local leaders and NRM supporters to work with ONC to expose the government officials who misuse the funds and called for an urgent audit on all government officials and agencies to recover all stolen funds.
“We need to know who is stealing this money because this is our mandate as citizens of Uganda to demand accountability,” Ms Namyalo appealed.

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Catalysts
Unfufilled presidential pledges  featured prominently in the 2021 General Election campaigns. In 2015, the Parliament Committee on Government Assurances released a report, showing that the President had not delivered on 817 pledges since coming to power in 1986. The presidential pledges, according to the report, amount to more than Shs12.9 trillion.