In Buyende district, the former district chairperson and current National Resistance Movement (NRM) chairperson, Robert Ziribasanga, survived being grabbed by the collars by the NRM District Executive Committee (DEC) members who bayed for his blood for allegedly misappropriating party funds and trying to illegally oust the district party administrator, Geoffrey Tenywa. Allegations Ziribasanga denied when contacted by Busoga Times.
First things first, on 26th April 2025, DEC met to plan for how they will promote the party in the district ahead of party electoral activities and the 2026 general elections. According to DEC members who spoke to Busoga Times, just when the meeting was about to end, Ziribasanga, in an AOB, communicated that he had received several petitions from members of the party expressing dissatisfaction with the way Tenywa, the NRM district administrator, was executing his duties.
The riled members of DEC say that without indulging them, Ziribasanga judged that Tenywa should step aside to allow investigations into the cases brought against him. DEC members apparently refused to agree with their chairperson, causing a standoff that is now threatening to tear the party apart. In the same meeting, the DEC members came up with recommendations on how the matter can be resolved.
Among the recommendations was the idea of inviting the administrator for cautioning. Not amused by the recommendations, Ziribasanga apparently threw tantrums and called off the meeting without the team reaching a logical conclusion. A date for a meeting to sit and solve the matter—including DEC conducting the vote on the fate of the administrator—was suggested. The DEC met on a new date, on 29th April 2025, as suggested. Other matters were included on the agenda.
Among the issues that were raised during the meeting was how the Buyende district NRM election officer acquired office without the knowledge of DEC and how certain individuals received and now own motorcycles that came from the party headquarters meant for NRM sub-county chairpersons, yet they are not. These contentious issues were left hanging as answers were not forthcoming.
Back to the issue of the administrator, a vote was conducted, and Ziribansanga seemed to get his way because five members voted to retain the administrator, while six voted to suspend him. But here is the problem: apparently, one of the six voters who voted for the suspension of the administrator wasn’t a DEC member, and therefore her vote was illegal, which nullifies the results, at least according to Mangaraine Sharif, a DEC member, when contacted by Busoga Times. With this, the administrator’s impasse stretched further.
After DEC failed to save his job, the administrator petitioned Kampala, telling the NRM Secretary General that he was being forced out of office illegally because of local politics. According to available information, the SG in Kampala asked Tenywa to return to Buyende and resume his duties, as a solution is being sought.
Unfazed, Ziribasanga, on 1st May 2025, which was a public holiday (Labour Day), ordered Tenywa to pick up his suspension letter from the office of the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), a thing he refused because he doesn’t report to the RDC and the RDC doesn’t feature in the party administrative structures.
When this move refused to work, the District Police Commander, on 4th May 2025, ordered the party registrar to hand over the suspension letter to Tenywa, who refused to accept the letter, saying he cannot hand over office to DPC, let alone be forced to receive the letter.
In a meeting that sat on 4th May 2025 at the NRM party offices in Buyende to train NRM sub-county registrars, the administrator, who is mandated to oversee the activities of the party, was thrown out of the meeting for allegedly having been suspended. It is at this point that some members of DEC who were present swung into action and almost lynched Ziribasanga, barraging him with several accusations, including swindling and mismanagement of Shs2M received every financial quarter.
It was chaotic as Ziribasanga, clad in a neatly pieced kaunda, was seen frantically trying to explain to the enraged DEC members. Now, the DEC members are vowing that impeaching their chairman is the best option to correct all that is going wrong within the NRM party in Buyende.
When contacted by Busoga Times, Ziribasanga, in a telephone interview, scoffed at DEC members alleging financial misappropriation, calling them liars because the money that comes goes to the district party account that has three signatories—himself, the secretary, and the admin. And there is no report indicating that there is any money that has been mismanaged, he said.
“The money that has been coming has been utilised. The money that they are talking about is money that comes to my personal account for my errands as the district chairman. It is not coming only to Buyende but to all districts. District [NRM] chairpersons receive money for their operations. We don’t give accountability to the district party executive. Those are people doing politics through blackmail. If they have any money issues that have not been handled, they should report it to the director of finance,” he said.
On the issue of the administrator, Ziribasanga denied initiating the process to kick out Tenywa, explaining that he was only reacting to the petitions received by the secretariat. He said he brought it to DEC for members to have an input.
He defended Mukyala Jesca for having voted in the vote to decide the fate of the administrator, confirming that Mukyala has been a DEC member, having replaced Hope Birungi, who had gone abroad. Ziribasanga said Mukyala has been participating in the activities of DEC. Asked if Mukyala replaced Birungi legally as per the party constitution, he was noncommittal but insisted that Mukyala has been a DEC member for many years.
“Those are useless allegations and politicking, and we are ready for the politics,” he said. He said that the fate of the administrator now rests in the hands of his employer, the secretariat in Kampala, not him, not DEC. We can only recommend his appointment, he said.
