
KAMPALA – The National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s Electoral Commission Chairperson, Dr. Tanga Odoi, has issued a stern warning to politicians to refrain from interfering with the ongoing update of the party’s membership registers.
Speaking in Najjembe town council, Lugazi, Buikwe district, on January 28, Dr. Tanga emphasized that the party will not tolerate any attempts to manipulate the process, and those found guilty will face legal consequences.
“There are some politicians that want to contest and want to take control. As a party, we shall not allow this. These are our staff and they take orders only from the party secretariat officials,” Dr. Tanga warned.
He added, “Do not allow yourself to be intimidated by these people. Don’t allow them to control you. I know some of them will come with people claiming to be voters of that particular village, but don’t register anyone who isn’t of that village because if we get to know, you will suffer the consequences.”
Dr. Tanga also revealed that some politicians have been trying to intimidate and control the registration process, even going so far as to accuse registrars who refuse to comply with their demands of being opposition members.
“When a registrar is not giving in to some leaders, they will start circulating rumors that he or she belongs to the opposition. Some of these people have been working with the party for so long, and just because they do not agree with you, you have started baptizing them as opposition members,” Dr. Tanga said.
He urged party leaders to give registrars the opportunity to produce a credible register that is accepted by all.
“You leaders should give an opportunity to produce a credible register that is accepted by all. We must play our work neutral, and we have to be successful,” Dr. Tanga emphasized.
Dr. Tanga explained that he visited Najjembe sub-county in Lugazi district because one of the party registrars fell sick, but a certain group of politicians decided to bring him out of his sick bed and wanted to control him.
“That’s not right. When a sub-county registrar is sick, the parish registrar has to step in and do the party work,” Dr. Tanga said.
Using the same platform, Dr. Tanga revealed that President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the NRM party chairperson, is setting up a team to reconcile politicians in areas with multiple NRM candidates vying for the same seat in the 2026 elections.
“The President has set up a team of people that he is to send to various parts of the country to reconcile politicians, and this is aimed at stopping the division of the NRM votes in the general elections, and one of the key areas is Buikwe. Buikwe is key to the party. We lost Buikwe in the previous general elections because we had a lot of candidates, and this is a mistake that was made as NRM,” Dr. Tanga explained.
He added that the party plans to have its party primaries by July and have a reconciliation of the party members by August and nominate people by September.
The party’s register update exercise is expected to start officially on January 29 and will last for four days. The exercise aims to verify and update the party’s membership registers in all 72,000 villages across the country.