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In the wake of the recent NRM internal elections, President Yoweri Museveni has once again addressed the heated rivalry between First Deputy Prime Minister Rebecca Kadaga and Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among.
The President in a statement yesterday reponded to Kadaga's public criticisms of Among, whom she accused of having an insufficient history within the party to be deserving of a top position.
The president framed the issue not as a matter of who had served longer, but rather as a fundamental test of the party's core principles.
Invoking the timeless biblical story of the labourers in the vineyard from the Book of Matthew, he likened the NRM to the vineyard owner, who paid the same wage to all labourers, regardless of whether they had toiled all day or for just one hour.
He argued that just as the landowner was within his rights to pay all the workers equally, so too was the party correct in treating all its members as equals.
He warned against the "politics of identity," where one's value is judged by their length of service rather than their contribution.
To treat new members as "squatters," he said, would be both insulting and strategically foolish, a mistake that had cost other parties dearly in the past.
Museveni further asserted that if senior NRM members truly focused on solving the problems of the people through government programmes like the Parish Development Model (PDM), they would have no reason to fear being "outshone" by newcomers.
“If the senior members of the NRM prioritize the Kukyenuura of the People (solving the People’s problems using the Government programmes of PDM, Emyooga, etc.), there is no way the new comers can outshine them,” he said
“It is very dangerous for the original members of a political organization to discriminate (kusosola) or Okweshaanya (to resent) the new members.”
Drawing on his own political journey, Museveni recalled his youthful self, a mere 25-year-old in 1970, who walked into a UPC office to join the party.
Despite his youth, he was a vibrant activist who had already initiated significant social change.
He asked rhetorically why a clever political planner would ever overlook the potential of such a person.
In his view, a political organisation that wishes to thrive must embrace all who are willing to join and contribute. He emphasised that "in political parties, all members should be equal," a foundational tenet that he believes is essential for the NRM's continued success.