KAMPALA – The Justice Forum (JEEMA) is grappling with a significant internal crisis and reported regret over its political alignment with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), a stance that has left the party divided and questioning its future, sources within the party have revealed.
The turmoil came to a head during a tense National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting held mid this week at Tal Cottages in Rubaga. The meeting, described as heated, exposed deep divisions among party officials, primarily over whom to support in the upcoming 2026 general elections.
At the heart of the disagreement is a growing sentiment of remorse for having sided with the NRM, a move that many members believe has eroded the party’s identity as an opposition force and rendered it “politically irrelevant.”
According to insiders, the meeting saw officials openly blaming each other for the party’s failure to front its own presidential candidate in the previous election cycle, a decision that now haunts them as they plan for 2026.
The factional lines were clearly drawn, with the party’s National Chairperson, Muhammad Kibirige Mayanja, a former presidential candidate himself, leading a group urging continued support for President Yoweri Museveni.
Mayanja reportedly argued that a strategic alliance with the NRM is a pragmatic approach to secure electoral victories. He contended that many JEEMA parliamentary candidates would depend on NRM voters in their respective constituencies, and an official endorsement of President Museveni could be leveraged to help the party win parliamentary seats.
However, this position was met with strong resistance from other members who view such an alliance as a betrayal of the party’s founding principles as an opposition entity. Critics fear that further coziness with the NRM will only accelerate the party’s decline into political obscurity.
This internal strife highlights the existential challenge facing JEEMA. The debate over whether to maintain a controversial alliance for short-term electoral gains or re-establish its independent opposition voice threatens to fracture the struggling party further, casting a long shadow over its strategy for the 2026 polls.
About The Author
