Africa-Press – Uganda. President Museveni, who is also the national chairman of the NRM has said the ruling party should embrace both old and new members equally.
“The NRM should treat all members equally,” Museveni said in a Saturday statement on the ruling party’s “ideological and strategic” direction.
“Oyorora zoona, tomanya erahiigye — when the puppies are young, you feed all of them equally because you do not know which of them will be a better hunting dog.”
During the heated campaigns for the second national vice chairperson(female) position, First Deputy Prime Minister, Rebecca Kadaga accused NRM of sidelining old guards like her in favour of newcomers.
“I have been a member of this party since its inception. My journey began in 1989 as Chairperson of RC1 in my village in Bunambutye, then to RC2, and later to the National Resistance Council. I have never belonged to any other political party. All my life, my commitment has been to the NRM,”Kadaga said during a tense NRM Central Executive Committee meeting chaired by President Museveni at State House in Entebbe last week.
Kadaga directly questioned Among’s short time in the ruling party.
“Our party guidelines are very clear. When one seeks office, they must show what they have done for the Movement in the last ten years. Those rules have not changed. Yet the person now aspiring to this office—Rt. Hon. Annet Anita Among—has served in the NRM for only three years.”
She also questioned the ruling party’s loyalty.
During the meeting, Museveni shot down these claims.
The president’s statement cited the biblical parable of the vineyard workers in Matthew 20:1-16 where a landowner hired laborers at different hours for his vineyard, paying everyone the same amount at the end of the day.
“In the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no young and there is no old. In political parties, all members should be equal. In politics, the vineyard owner are the people that choose from among the people contesting. Strategically, it would be insulting and repulsive to have two types of members: the old and the new. How can you treat people who come to re-inforce you as if they are squatters?”
According to Museveni, the same mistake was made in the early years after independence by Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress, leading to their collapse.
“It is very dangerous for the original members of a political organization to discriminate or resent new members.”
“If the senior members of the NRM prioritise solving people’s problems, there is no way newcomers can outshine them. Therefore, fellow Ugandans, remember, in the kingdom of heaven, there is no young and there is no old. In Political Parties, all members should be equal.
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