President Museveni tasks NRM MPs to return to grassroots leadership, embrace Balaam’s Anti-Corruption approach

What the report says

President Yoweri Museveni has urged National Resistance Movement (NRM) Members of Parliament to reconnect with voters through grassroots-style leadership, saying they should spend more time in their constituencies, hold barazas and track how government programmes are affecting ordinary people. He made the remarks on Friday, October 2, 2026, while addressing the NRM Parliamentary Caucus at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala, after MPs returned from a three-week recess.

According to Watchdog Uganda, Museveni also pressed lawmakers to support what he described as a practical, low-cost anti-corruption approach linked to Minister of Local Government Balaam Barugahara. He said the NRM had historically built trust by solving community problems directly and warned against detached political events that do not address citizens’ needs. He called on MPs to watch over the Parish Development Model in their areas so the intended beneficiaries receive the Shs1 million revolving fund and move further into the money economy.

The president also raised concerns about insecurity in parts of Greater Ankole and nearby districts, citing reported killings and cattle theft, and said he would engage security agencies on the issue. Beyond politics, he used the meeting to restate familiar NRM positions on irrigation, wetland protection, electricity expansion, railways, oil refining and domestic value addition, presenting them as part of Uganda’s wider economic strategy.

The caucus meeting was led by Government Chief Whip and NRM Parliamentary Caucus chairperson Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, who thanked Museveni for convening it and offered condolences to the Tooro royal family following the death of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.