By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
Is National Resistance Movement (NRM) a Criminal Organisation?
As pointed out above, politics and crime can be and are frequently intertwined. When this is the case political organisations and criminal organisations are also intertwined with complex networks. In this article I aver that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Uganda sas a criminal organisation. I, therefore, want to detail how NRM in Ugandaemerged as a criminal organisation during its days in the bushes of Luwero, and persisted and perfected itself as such during the long reign of President Tibuhaburwa Museveni in what appears to have been family rule. I assert that before and after it captured political power in Kampala it was itself captured by criminals, who used it to protect and advance their interests at the expense of Uganda and its indigenes.
Ugandans will remember that when the NRM Supremo, Tibuhaburwa Museveni opened up to multiparty politics and offered himself for electoral politics, the illegal bush war organisation, NRM, was registered as a political party under the name National Resistance Movement Organisation (NRMO) to legally participate in local council, parliamentary and presidential elections of 2006. However, the owners of NRM preferred to remain NRM rather than adopt the registered name, NRMO). In other words, the party, NRMO, was rejected for the illegal NRM. The illegal NRM, with its armed wing called National Resistance Army (NRA), is what reigned havoc in the bushes of Luwero against the Uganda Peoples Congress regime between 1981 and 1985. The political and the military combined as political military to commit a lot of crimes, including killings and robberies of banks, cooperative unions,cooperative societies,Uganda Cooperative Transport Union (UCTU), Uganda Cooperative Bank and Uganda Commercial Bank.According to the severally incarcerated Dr Kiiza Besigye, a bush war hero, 500,000 people were killed in the Luwero Triangle. Ultimately, most cooperative unions and societies collapsed and their money and properties disappeared in thin air. UCTU, Uganda Cooperative Bank and Uganda Commercial Bank were sold off but the proceeds were not publicly announced.
The NRM/NRA was refugee-heavy, meaning that many of the crimes were committed because the refugee fighters had no blood relations with any indigenous group of Ugandans in the Luwero Triangle. While it was said many went back to Rwanda and Mulenga in Eastern DRC many remained, and even occupying high positions in government, army, intelligence services, police and prisons as well as para-military groups. They raided banks, cooperative unions and cooperative societies in and outside the Luwero Triangle and stole money and properties. They ransacked the industries of Jinja in Busoga and stole even equipment of some industries. It was claimed that some were ferried to Rwanda.
Many refugees continued to belong to NRM/A. Even if the NRM and NRA became separate institutions they maintained their umbilical cord. During the NRM/A’s making of the Uganda Constitution 1995 between 1991 and 1994, many refugees participated in the exercise. Their interests were taken care of by the constitutional draft ascribing all power and authority to the President, knowing fully well that the reigning President did not belong to any indigenous group of Uganda. They even made Banyarwanda anew indigenous group of Uganda, which the British colonial government and the succeeding post-colonial governments never did. This was criminal since it created a leeway for refugees in power in Kampala to unfairly access opportunities, resources, nationality, citizenship and sovereignty of Uganda. This created a superior “indigenous” group. This was criminal because an exogenously oriented group was constitutionally stealing the nationality, citizenship and sovereignty of Uganda. Besides, since the people set to dominate the socio-political, socio-economic, socio-cultural and ecological-biological spaces were ethnically related to them, an advantage was being created for them constitutionally, which was criminal. Therefore, the domination of every sector of the economy of Uganda by people belonging to the new constitutionally created indigenous with ecological, biological, cultural and physical attachment to the land explains the inequities and injustices reigning today in every sphere of human endeavour and the apartheid-like governance, which now predominates in Uganda.
Although the Uganda Constitution 1995 converted NRA to Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF), President Tibuhaburwa Museveni wished it had remained NRA, arguing it was historical. However, in practice it is NRA. Trillions of Shillings have been spent since celebrating what is called liberation of Uganda, which is just concealment of the crimes of Luwero Triangle.
The Army and Uganda police, personnel exchange is pursued as normal yet it iscriminal. The Uganda Police is now military-heavy from top to bottom. They have committed crimes either jointly or separately on a continues basis. This has been the case especially in pre-electoral and electoral times, but also in post-electoral times, since 1996. Even if the President knows the propensity of committing crimesis high in these institutions, and in makeshift institutions, such as JATT, hehas disguised the crimes by repeatedly ascribing every crime to the Opposition. In fact, for 40 years, he has continuously referred to the politicians in the Opposition as criminals, even publicly declaredthat he can never hand power to the criminals (Opposition politicians). Even then he regularly organises elections every five years since 1996, which he knows he can never allow the Opposition politicians to win. He single-handedly erects electoral commissions to supervise the elections, but has severally claimed that the electoral commissions have been conniving with the Opposition to steal his votes. One time he claimed that the National Unity Platform of Kyagulanyi Ssentamu connived with the Justice Byabakama Electoral Commission to steal 1,000,000 votes of his, adding that he had concreate evidence of the electoral theft. Besides, way back in 1997, while campaigning in Seeta, Mukono, the President declared that a mere piece of paper (the ballot paper) cannot remove him from power. He added that he is like a quarter pin of a bicycle, which goes in by knocking and comes out by knocking.
Retrenchment of Government Workers
One of the main criminal acts of the NRM/A regime was to retrench what it called deadwood (the old government workers), most of who were never compensated and died from pressure and hypertensions. The NRM/A regime reasoned that it was removing dead wood (the old) to create a small, efficient workforce. Many of their dependants also died because they had no people to provide for them. It was disguised genocide. Apparently soon after the workforce shot up supersonically, with most new workers belonging to the new indigenous group I mentioned above. Those who retrenched the old of yesterday are the old of today, many in their 70s and 80s and are doing everything possible to die in their positions in government. They will not let the young people to replace them. Meanwhile they pay themselves and those they select to lead government institutions astronomical salaries. Ugandans with the required qualifications, expertise and experience are paid peanuts, thereby casting them as if they are slaves of the others who do not have the requisite qualifications, expertise or experience but occupy top positions in the country. This is, of course, criminal.
Criminal Sale of Public Enterprises
Another criminal act was for the NRM/A functionaries to star firms, which never paid taxes. Yet another was the sale of public enterprises, at peanut prices, that ended up being owned by some of the key elements in the NRM/A. They used Indians as fronts. Once owned by them, they stopped paying taxes, or unfairly paid little taxes, and the rest of Ugandans and their firms paid heavy taxes. Nobody, except those who sold public enterprises, knows where the proceeds from the sale of public enterprises vanished to. However, what is known is that many of them became stinkingly rich and declared that the poor will never rule Uganda. Virtually all the hotels that belonged to Uganda Hotels were sold. Many new hotels were established by the big wig the NRM/A (read NRM/UPDF). There isevidence that they either pay little or no taxes to the Uganda treasury. Most of the new hotels belong to members of the first family a few families. One school of thought believes tht with the private-public partnership, one cannot rule out the possibility that a lot of public money is invested in hotels and other enterprises owned by individuals in the NRM regime or their spouses and/or children.
Further Reading
Alberto Alesina and Salvatore Piccolo and Paolo Pinotti (2017). Organized Crime, Violence, and Politics. Scholars at Havard. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/alesina/files/app_10_18_17.pdf Visited on 14 April 2025 at 09:29.
Madzima, Jackson (2009). The politics of organised crime in Africa. Institute for Security Studies, 30 October 2009.https://issafrica.org/iss-today/the-politics-of-organised-crime-in-africa Visited on 14 April 2025 at 11:04 am EAT
Marco Di Cataldo, Nicola Mastrorocco, Organized Crime, Captured Politicians, and the Allocation of Public Resources, The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Volume 38, Issue 3, November 2022, Pages 774–839, https://doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewab015
Shaw, Mark (2019).Organized Crime and Criminal Networks in Africa. Politics, 23 May 2019 https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.742https://oxfordre.com/politics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-742?d=%2F10.1093%2Facrefore%2F9780190228637.001.0001%2Facrefore-9780190228637-e-742&p=emailAupnBmRrr5jdI Visited on 14 April 2025 at 11:25 am EAT
Skarbek, D. The political economy of criminal governance. Public Choice 200, 1–24 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-024-01147-3https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11127-024-01147-3#citeas Visited on 14 April 2025 at 09:27 am EAT
Stephen Ellis and Mark Shaw (2015). Does Organised crim exist in Africa? African Affairs, 1–24 Published 17 August 2015.
Oweyegha-Afunaduula is a member of Centre for Critical Thinking and Alternative Analysis
