Some fault lines are slowly emerging in President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) after some supporters in first son Lt Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s camp started pushing for the formation of a new political formation called the National Progressive Movement (NPM).
With countrywide celebrations to mark his 48th birthday, Lt Gen Kainerugaba has given Ugandans a glimpse of what the transition from Gen Museveni and his NRM party might look like. Making political statements even when he is still a serving UPDF officer, Muhoozi seems to have made up his mind on succeeding his father by all means possible.
Many thought that he would seek endorsement from his father’s NRM party even when he is not an active member given that the law bars serving officers from engaging in open partisan politics.
But some of his supporters are now pushing for the creation of the the National Progressive Movement (NPM), a vehicle that they say would continue with the good ideals of the NRM but bring freshness to the politics of the country.
One of the main proponents of the NPM is Kashambya County MP David Kabanda. The youthful legislator and NRM cadre says the new political formation would work with willing opposition supporters.
“Team MK must drive a new progressive movement free of intrigue that has characterized our current party. MK can work with Mao, some disappointed FDC Leaders and even NUP. All these need a new clean political vehicle acceptable to all of us. This is National Progressive Movement – NPM,” says Kabanda.
But Lt Gen Kainerugaba and top members of his team are yet to make a formal announcement on the formation of the NPM. President Museveni’s son recently said he would announce his political program, perhaps some campaign roadmap ahead of his rumored 2026 presidential bid.
Meanwhile, as the first son and his supporters openly discuss the strategies for the 2026 presidential election, another UPDF general, former police and army chief, Gen Katumba Wamala has distanced himself from plans to hold a Muhoozi-like birthday party where some people had plotted to announce his presidential bid in the so-called ‘Project Katumba Wamala.’ (Read Story Here).
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