National Resistance Movement

The National Resistance Movement (; abbr. NRM) has been the ruling party in Uganda since 1986. Far-right politics in Uganda History The National Resistance Movement (NRM) was founded as a liberation movement that waged a guerrilla war through its rebel wing National Resistance Army (NRA) that toppled the government in 1986. According to the National Resistance Movement, it restored political stability, security, law and order, constitutionalism and the rule of law to Uganda. Leadership The party's leader, Yoweri Museveni was involved in the war that deposed Idi Amin, ending his rule in 1979, and in the rebellion that subsequently led to the demise of the Milton Obote regime in 1985; however, parallels have been drawn between the NRM and its predecessors. For instance, the NRM-sponsored Public Order Management Bill is strikingly similar to the 1967 Public Order and Security Act, codified by the Obote regime, in that both bills "seek to gag dissenting views." Museveni's statements are also reminiscent of Uganda's dictatorial past: "Whoever tries to cause problems, we finish them. Besigye [an opposition leader] tried to disorganize Kampala and we gave him a little tear gas and he calmed down. He didn't need a bullet, just a little gas." Further, as he once stated that "the problem of Africa in general and Uganda in particular is not the people but leaders who want to overstay in power," some have viewed his move to abolish presidential term limits as hypocritical. In the past, The NRM has been praised for bringing relative stability and economic growth to a country that has endured decades of government mismanagement, rebel activity and civil war; however, with an unemployment rate of 62% among the youth, his economic effectiveness has seriously come into question. His tenure has witnessed one of the most effective national responses to HIV/AIDS in Africa.