Africa-Press – Uganda. ELECTION WATCH | NRM The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party members have been urged to work in unity to avoid divisionism.The party’s Head of Political Intelligence in the Office of the National Chairperson (ONC), Saleh Kamba said the party needs to have one voice to avoid mistakes in the forthcoming general elections.”With the positioning and popularity we have as NRM, I assure you, NRM cannot lose power but we need to be coordinated. Our only problem is internal contradictions. Some members say, ‘I can’t go there, I rather vote for the opposition’. Can you imagine?” he noted.”Our biggest problem is ourselves. Even at Parliamentary level, those positions we lost in the previous election to the opposition is because of ourselves. We still have a mileage over other contenders but we only need to get organised and work together,” he added.Kamba made the call while speaking to coordinators and other party leaders at the Office of National Chairman (ONC) in Kyambogo, Kampala during the training of voter presidential protection teams.He urged NRM polling agents and mobilisers to follow Electoral Commission (EC) guidelines to effectively manage the polling station activities.
“As NRM, our responsibility in the process is to ensure that we have candidates at all levels. So far, we have already secured 13 seats at Parliamentary level unopposed among others,” he said.He noted that the party is to put in place a system to easily coordinate and compile the scores of their presidential candidate as filled on the declaration forms, during the tallying process from various parts of the country.He said the tally centre will be situated in Kampala at ONC manned by IT and other experts to ensure results are promptly tallied.”This system will help us to receive results as they are from different polling stations. This will help us to verify the results as they get announced by the EC. We are going to be online and our agents will be using that application with their smartphones to feed the centre,” he added.Kamba cautioned the agents on timekeeping.”Polling agents must always be around to monitor the process 24/7. Avoid committing unnecessary offences at the polling stations,” he said.He urged NRM leaders and all members to do everything collectively for better results.The chairperson, Kampala region, Sigh Katongole urged NRM members not to be intimidated by rival political forces.
“We only need to come out in large numbers and vote for our presidential candidate and all other flag bearers and show our strength on the polling day,” he added.He also noted that NRM cadres need to start respecting each other and their leaders to easily deal with their issues.Milly Babalanda, the senior presidential advisor on political affairs said NRM needs to show its strength through the ballot.”We have not been able to reach the masses as we have been doing in the past elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We should now show our strength in the ballot,” she noted.”We should not take things for granted because our opponents are desperate to win. Voters should keep watch of the whole process till the final announcing of the results in their respective areas,” she said.
