New Blood Sweeps Old Guards Aside in NRM Sub-County Primaries in Kitgum

Long-serving members of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party have suffered major losses in the just-concluded primaries at the Sub-county, Town Councils, and Divisions in Kitgum District. Results of the primaries held on Friday saw a wave of new entrants clinch key leadership positions in a stunning political shakeup.

Across several sub-counties, town councils, and municipality divisions, a significant number of former NRM Chairpersons and other long-term serving party officials failed to retain their positions in a move seemingly signaling leadership changes. Cyrus Odongkene, the Kitgum District NRM party registrar, told Uganda Radio Network over the weekend that in all the 22 sub-counties in the district, only five former party chairpersons managed to retain their positions in the concluded elections. 

For instance, long-time serving NRM chairpersons in Mucwini, Labongo Layamo, and Lagoro sub-counties were defeated by a large margin of votes by political novices. Francis Otiti, the incumbent NRM chairperson for Lagoro Subcounty, polled only 16 votes while his opponent, Castro Oloya garnered 160 votes. In Mucwini Sub-county, incumbent Patrick Okony polled 12 votes while his opponent, Jonathan Nokrach got 60 votes. 

Meanwhile, in Labongo Layamo, the incumbent Franko Otti got defeated at the Parish level and never competed at the Sub-county level, leaving newcomer Geoffrey Olony elected with 81 votes. Odongkene noted that the election of the new entrants is a reflection of the growing call for change and generational shift within the party’s grassroots structures.

He explained that according to the voters, the majority of the old guards made no significant impact during their long time in office, a reason they were voted out. “These people have served for a long time, and the voters say they didn’t see any value in them. Now they are saying they want new brooms to come in. That’s why even the election in the district where preparing for, many new entrants have shown interest,” said Odongkene.

Meanwhile, in Gulu District, the situation wasn’t any different as the long-standing dominance of the old guards within the NRM party was decisively overturned. The results indicate that out of the 11 sub-counties, only one incumbent NRM Chairperson of Owalo sub-county survived defeat, while 10 others were ousted in the party structure elections.

For instance, Gulu District Chairperson Christopher Opiyo Atekere, a staunch NRM party member, miserably lost the Awach Sub-county NRM Chairperson election to a political novice, Christopher Ocen. Atekere garnered 54 votes against 87 votes for Ocen, who was declared the winner. Gulu District NRM Chairperson James Ocen attributed Atekere’s defeat to greed and failure to heed advice from the party leaders in the district. He noted that Atekere was advised not to contest since he was already showing interest in vying for the NRM party flag at the District level.

“The locals are also wise, when you want to have everything, they show you their decisions and that’s how Atekere was defeated,” Ocen told URN in an interview on Sunday. Efforts to get responses from Atekere were, however, futile by press time as he didn't answer our repeated phone calls on his known mobile phone line. However, reacting to the defeat of the old guards in the sub-county, Ocen said those defeated took their positions for granted and did little work to impress the people in the community.

He also noted that the wave of new entries is attributed to the perception that there is a lot of money in being an NRM Chairperson at the sub-county level or even beyond. “Those who showed interest had a popular slogan that the incumbents ate a lot of money and that it was now their time to also enjoy. That perception attracted many people who want to also test the money, but I can tell them, things may be different shortly after the election,” he said.

Ocen said the election, albeit with minor complaints, went on successfully. NRM party is scheduled to hold the flag bearer elections at the district level next Friday, May 23, as it gears up for the 2026 general polls. In its election road map, the party has so far conducted the party structure election and LCI Flag bearer election at the village level.