The National Resistance Movement (; abbr. NRM) has been the

ruling party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

since 1986.

History

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla war through its rebel wing

National Resistance Army The National Resistance Army (NRA) was a guerilla army and the military wing of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) that fought in the Ugandan Bush War against the government of Milton Obote, and later the government of Tito Okello. NRA wa ...

(NRA) that toppled the government in 1986. According to the National Resistance Movement, it restored political stability, security, law and order,

constitutionalism Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional to ...

and the rule of law to Uganda.

Leadership

The party's leader,

Yoweri Museveni Yoweri Kaguta Museveni Tibuhaburwa (born 15 September 1944) is a Ugandan politician and Officer (armed forces), military officer who is the ninth and current president of Uganda since 1986. As of 2025, he is the third-List of current state lead ...

, was involved in the war that deposed

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 30 May 192816 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 until Uganda–Tanzania War, his overthrow in 1979. He ruled as a Military dictatorship, ...

, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the

Milton Obote Apollo Milton Obote (28 December 1925 – 10 October 2005) was a Ugandan politician who served as the second prime minister of Uganda from 1962 to 1966 and the second president of Uganda from 1966 to 1971 and later from 1980 to 1985. A Lango, ...

regime in 1985; however, parallels have been drawn between the NRM and its predecessors in terms of suppressing fundamental freedoms. For instance, the NRM-sponsored Public Order Management Bill is strikingly similar to the 1967 Public Order and Security Act, codified by the Obote regime, in that both bills "seek to gag dissenting views." Museveni's statements are also reminiscent of Uganda's dictatorial past: "Whoever tries to cause problems, we finish them. Besigye n opposition leadertried to disorganize Kampala and we gave him a little tear gas and he calmed down. He didn't need a bullet, just a little gas." Further, as he once stated that "the problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power," some have viewed his move to abolish presidential term limits as hypocritical. In the past, The NRM has been praised for bringing relative stability and economic growth to a country that has endured decades of government mismanagement, rebel activity and

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

; however, with an unemployment rate of 62% among the youth, his economic effectiveness has seriously come into question. His tenure has witnessed one of the most effective national responses to

HIV/AIDS in Africa HIV/AIDS originated in the early 20th century and remains a significant public health challenge, particularly in Africa. Although Africa constitutes about 17% of the world's population, it bears a disproportionate burden of the epidemic. In 20 ...

. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Museveni was lauded by the West as part of a new generation of African leaders. His presidency has been marred, however, by invading and occupying Congo during the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted ...

(the war in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

which has resulted in an estimated 5.4 million deaths since 1998) and other conflicts in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region. Recent developments, including the abolition of presidential term limits before the 2006 elections, Museveni's confirmation of the NRM-sponsored Public Order Management Bill — a bill which severely limits freedom of assembly — NRM media censorship and the persecution of democratic opposition (i.e. general intimidation of voters by security forces; arresting opposition candidates; extrajudicial killings) have attracted concern from domestic and foreign commentators. Most recently, indicators of an alleged succession to the President's son,

Muhoozi Kainerugaba Muhoozi Kainerugaba (born 24 April 1974) is a Ugandan military officer and the eldest child of President Yoweri Museveni. He serves as the Chief of Defence Forces of the Uganda People's Defence Force (UPDF) and is the chairman of the ''Patri ...

, have increased tensions.United States Department of State (Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor).(2012)
Uganda 2012 Human Rights Report
Allegations regarding significant corruption have also shaped criticism of the NRM government. According to the U.S. State Department's 2012 Human Rights Report on Uganda, "The World Bank's most recent Worldwide Governance Indicators reflected corruption was a severe problem" and that "the country annually loses 768.9 billion shillings ($286 million) to corruption." Understandably, Uganda was ranked 140th out of 176 nations on the

Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...

. A specific scandal, which had significant international consequences and highlighted the presence of corruption in high-level government offices, was the embezzlement of $12.6 mil in donor funds from the Office of the Prime Minister in 2012. These funds were "earmarked as crucial support for rebuilding northern Uganda, ravaged by a 20-year war, and Karamoja, Uganda's poorest region." This scandal prompted the E.U., The U.K., Germany, Denmark, Ireland and Norway to suspend aid. What may compound this problem — as it does in many developing nations (as per the resource curse) — is an abundance of oil. The Petroleum Bill — passed by the Ugandan Parliament in 2012 — which was touted by the NRM as bringing transparency to the oil sector has, failed to please domestic and international political commentators and economists. For instance, Angelo Izama, a Ugandan energy analyst at the U.S.-based Open Society Foundation said the new law was tantamount to "handing over an ATM (cash) machine" to Museveni and his regime. According to Global Witness, an international law NGO, Uganda now has "oil reserves that have the potential to double the government's revenue within six to ten years, worth an estimated US$2.4bn per year." Other contentious bills have been sponsored, passed and confirmed by the NRM government during his tenure. For example, The Non Governmental Organizations (Amendment) Act, passed in 2006, has stifled the productivity of NGOs through erecting barriers to entry, activity, funding and assembly within the sector. Burdensome and corrupt registration procedures (i.e. requiring recommendations from government officials; annual re-registration), unreasonable regulation of operations (i.e. requiring government notification prior to making contact with individuals in NGO's area of interest), and the precondition that all foreign funds be passed through the Bank of Uganda, among other things, are severely limiting the output of the NGO sector. Furthermore, the sector's freedom of speech has been continually infringed upon through the use of intimidation, and the recent Public Order Management Bill (severely limiting freedom of assembly) will only add to the government's stockpile of ammunition.

Electoral performance

The party began as the political body associated with the rebel

before Museveni came to power in 1986. Until a referendum in 2005, Uganda held elections on a non-party basis. The NRM currently has a majority in the Ugandan parliament, a position it has maintained since 1996. The presidential elections of 12 March 2001 were won by

of the NRM with 69.3% of the popular vote. On 17 November 2005, Museveni was elected unopposed as NRM's presidential candidate for the 2006 elections. In the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

of 23 February 2006, the party won 205 out of 289 elected seats. In the presidential election of the same date, Museveni won 59.3% of the vote. In the 2016 general election, the party won 293 out of 426 seats, and Museveni was reelected president with 56.62% of the vote.

Mbabazi split

National Resistance Movement secretary general Hon. Amama Mbabazi fell out with party chairman Yoweri Museveni just before 2016 general elections. Museveni sacked Mbabazi for having declared interest in running against him to the party chairmanship. Mbabazi left and formed his political movement the ''GO FORWARD group''.

Ideological shift

The predecessor party Uganda Patriotic Movement, embraced

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

. In 1986 NRM enmbraced

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and also

Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

. Currently the party supports

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

social conservatism Social conservatism is a political philosophy and a variety of conservatism which places emphasis on Tradition#In political and religious discourse, traditional social structures over Cultural pluralism, social pluralism. Social conservatives ...

right-wing populism Right-wing populism, also called national populism and right populism, is a political ideology that combines right-wing politics with populist rhetoric and themes. Its rhetoric employs anti- elitist sentiments, opposition to the Establis ...

and

economic liberalism Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalism ...

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Parliament of Uganda elections

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control National Resistance Movement, 1986 establishments in Uganda Political parties established in 1986 Political parties in Uganda Rebel groups in Uganda Yoweri Museveni Social conservative parties Organizations that oppose LGBTQ rights in Uganda Opposition to same-sex marriage Anti-gender movement Authoritarianism