By CHARLES OPIO
KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda’s Constitutional Court has upheld a key provision in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s constitution that empowers President Yoweri Museveni to directly appoint top party officials, including the Secretary General, Treasurer, and their deputies — a move critics say consolidates one-man control over the ruling party.
In a majority ruling delivered late Friday, the justices found that the internal selection rules of a political party do not amount to a violation of Article 29 of the national Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of association and political participation.
The challenge had been brought by a group of civil society petitioners and internal NRM reformists who argued that the appointments undermined internal democracy.
“This Court finds that the internal mechanisms of a voluntary political association — in this case the NRM — fall within its autonomy, provided they do not contradict the broader constitutional order,” Justice Hellen Obura wrote in the lead opinion.
“The appointment powers granted to the party chairperson by the NRM constitution do not infringe on the rights of its members.”
President Museveni, 80, who has ruled Uganda since 1986, has long maintained a tight grip over both the state and party structures.
While the NRM constitution had previously allowed internal elections for secretariat positions, amendments passed at a 2022 party conference handed the president sweeping powers to appoint — and dismiss — party executives.
The decision triggered widespread concern among party moderates and political analysts who warned of a creeping erosion of internal accountability.
“This ruling effectively formalizes the party’s transformation into a vehicle centered around Museveni himself,” said Dr. Rose Namayanja, a political scientist at Makerere University.
“It extinguishes even the illusion of an internal check on power.”
The ruling arrives just months ahead of the NRM’s national delegates’ conference, widely expected to endorse Museveni as the party’s flagbearer for the 2026 general elections — his seventh presidential bid.
While the president has not publicly declared his intentions, several senior party officials, including the current Secretary General Richard Todwong, have already expressed support for his continued leadership.
The court’s ruling was welcomed by NRM officials who argued that the streamlined process ensures unity and discipline within the party.
“This is a victory for order and cohesion,” said Emmanuel Dombo, the party’s Director of Communications.
“The president, as our revolutionary leader, deserves the confidence to choose a team that can execute the party’s vision without internal wrangling.”
Opposition figures, however, condemned the decision as a judicial rubber stamp of authoritarianism.
“The judiciary has once again failed the democratic aspirations of Ugandans,” said Joel Ssenyonyi, spokesperson for the National Unity Platform.
“This only deepens the capture of institutions by the ruling clique.”
Despite mounting public fatigue with Museveni’s long rule — especially among youth voters — the NRM remains firmly entrenched in both rural political structures and security apparatuses, giving the incumbent a formidable advantage ahead of the next electoral cycle.
As the court’s decision closes one legal front, opposition activists vowed to intensify public mobilization and international advocacy, warning that Uganda’s fragile democracy was “slipping beyond repair.”
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