Museveni Lifts the Lid on Busoga Power Struggles After Top NRM Leaders Skip Iganga Meeting

President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday laid bare growing fault lines within the National Resistance Movement in Busoga after a unity meeting in Iganga was overshadowed by the absence of two senior party figures. What was planned as a forum to restore harmony instead exposed confusion, mistrust and weak coordination inside the party’s regional structures.

Addressing leaders and supporters at Iganga Girls’ Secondary School, Museveni said the failure by First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga and State Minister for Lands Persis Namuganza to attend was not accidental. He described it as evidence of deeper organisational failures, noting that even basic processes such as inviting key leaders had become contested.

Museveni revealed that the meeting had been initiated by Namuganza herself, who insisted it be hosted in Iganga. He agreed, he said, despite his tight schedule, believing the gathering would help resolve ongoing disagreements. However, the President noted that the same divisions the meeting was meant to address had instead disrupted it.

Turning to Kadaga’s absence, Museveni told the audience that he personally called her to establish why she was missing. According to him, Kadaga responded that she had not been invited. Concerned by the claim, Museveni said he immediately reached out to Speaker of Parliament Anita Among to verify whether Kadaga had been excluded.

The Speaker, Museveni explained, told him that invitations had been extended to all party flag bearers. When Museveni relayed this information back to Kadaga, she questioned the method used, asking how exactly the invitation had been delivered. By the time he arrived in Iganga, Museveni said he was demanding clear answers on who invited whom and how.

The President said he had instructed district officials and party leaders in Iganga and neighbouring areas to account for the communication channels used. If invitations were passed through RDCs, security officials and party structures, he said, then responsibility must be fixed where the process broke down.

Museveni linked the confusion to lingering bitterness from the recent NRM Central Executive Committee elections, which strained relations between camps aligned to Kadaga and Speaker Among. He said the rivalry had weakened mobilisation in Busoga and created an atmosphere of suspicion that was now hurting the party’s effectiveness.

Warning against indiscipline and personal ambition, Museveni said internal wrangles were delaying service delivery and harming ordinary citizens. He urged leaders to embrace humility and unity, stressing that the NRM’s focus must remain on transforming lives and fighting poverty, not internal power struggles.