By Musinguzi Blanshe

 

KAMPALA, 09 Dec. - (ANA) - From the first lady to musicians and intelligence chiefs, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s 2026 run is driven by a sprawling coalition working to secure his stay in power. 

 

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, has been on the campaign trail since the beginning of October, moving through northern, eastern and now western Uganda, as he pushes to extend his rule to 2031.

 

At 81, he remains energetic and often works late into the night, meeting local groups or addressing journalists.

 

 

 

 

At every rally, Museveni is joined either by the first lady, Janet Museveni, who also serves as minister for education, or by two of his daughters.

 

 

For much of the campaign, he has been with the first lady. This is unprecedented – in previous elections, Museveni travelled largely alone.

 

 

 

 

The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretariat remains the nerve centre of Museveni’s official machinery. It handles party branding, manifesto development and district mobilisation. The team often moves ahead of the president to prepare the ground for his rallies. It also maintains the patronage networks that anchor Museveni’s support across the country.

 

Key figures at the secretariat include Richard Todwong, who leads the team. As secretary general, he supervises party structures from the national level down to the village committees. His family is also influential in northern Uganda and he is expected to help deliver votes from the region.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Speaker Anita Among has featured at every major rally. Beyond that, she has helped organise and fund numerous mini-rallies in eastern Uganda, where she has become the new political kingpin and is expected to deliver the region to the ruling party.

 

It is a tricky assignment as she must prove her political strength in an area where Bobi Wine and Museveni are both making a push. Wine won many districts in the region in the last election, and his team hopes to perform even better this time.

 

As speaker, Among controls a budget of more than $300m. She has put much of this money at the campaign’s disposal, especially now that parliament has less business, with most MPs out campaigning.

 

Her role in Museveni’s reelection effort is straightforward: she keeps the NRM parliamentary caucus aligned with the president’s priorities.

 

She has managed dissent inside the house and convinced a number of opposition legislators to join the NRM or become less hostile to Museveni.

 

 

 

 

Eddy Kenzo, East Africa’s first musician to win a BET Award, is no longer preoccupied with his music career. He leads a team of artists who appear at every campaign venue, electrifying audiences as they await Museveni.

 

Musicians matter enormously in a campaign where numbers are critical. They attract people who might not otherwise attend Museveni’s rallies and keep them entertained for hours.

 

The team released a campaign album before the trail opened, featuring songs that praise the president and encourage support for his continued stay in power. Many of the country’s leading entertainers have joined this effort.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Though Maj. Gen. Christopher Ddamulira is the director of crime intelligence at Uganda police, he has distinguished himself as someone whose networks and intelligence operations penetrate deeply into the ghetto youth communities around Kampala.

 

He also carries the title of coordinator of the ghetto youth empowerment programme, leading efforts that target urban and informal settlements – often referred to as the “ghetto structures”.

 

These urban areas are viewed as key battlegrounds, especially because Museveni underperformed in them in the previous election.

 

Ddamulira has spent years mobilising youth, boda boda operators and informal networks, attempting to pivot them toward supporting Museveni.

 

 

 

 

Although Gen. Salim Saleh remains largely out of public view, he is one of the most powerful centres of gravity in Museveni’s reelection machinery.

 

He operates through informal networks that often outweigh formal party structures and is widely seen as the de facto manager of the state whenever Museveni is on the campaign trail. From behind the scenes, he directs major financial and logistical decisions and controls a substantial share of the campaign budget.

 

From his base in Gulu, nothern Uganda, he functions as the campaign’s fixer in the region – an area the NRM views as strategically vital.

 

Saleh’s behind-the-scenes but persistent work involves poaching opposition politicians, reconciling disgruntled NRM members, and reintegrating army veterans whose support remains symbolically and numerically important.

 

 

 

 

Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the president’s son and army chief, built a network through the Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), which now functions as a parallel but integrated mobilisation arm within Museveni’s 2026 campaign.

 

Although initially viewed as a launchpad for Muhoozi’s own presidential ambitions, the group has been repositioned – through a memorandum of understanding between PLU officials and the NRM leadership – into a strategic asset for Museveni.

 

PLU’s role is particularly crucial in areas where the ruling party’s traditional structures have weakened.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/09 December 2025 - - -