Police Allowed Opposition to Intimidate NRM Supporters – Museveni

President Yoweri Museveni has accused the police of negligence, alleging that they allowed opposition supporters to intimidate members of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), thereby preventing some from voting during the January 15 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Museveni, who was declared winner of the presidential race by the Electoral Commission with 7.9 million votes—representing 71.6 percent of valid votes cast—made the remarks on Monday during NRM Liberation Day celebrations at Kololo Independence Grounds in Kampala.

His closest challenger, National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, popularly known as Bobi Wine, garnered 2.7 million votes, accounting for 24.7 percent of the total vote. Kyagulanyi has since rejected the election results.

Addressing supporters, Museveni said the NRM has a support base of about 18 million people, 14 million of whom are registered voters.

“I got eight million votes. Where are my six million votes?” Museveni asked. “That means some of our people did not turn up. If they had turned up, there would be no opposition in Uganda.”

He attributed the low turnout among alleged NRM supporters to intimidation by the opposition, which he claimed was enabled by police inaction.

“We are going to study it, but I think there are two reasons,” Museveni said. “Number one is the opposition threatening violence, and then the police doing nothing about it. People misbehaving and nobody does anything about them.”

The President further alleged that some NRM supporters were attacked during the election period.

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“Why should you attack anybody because of elections? What right do you have even to use harsh words?” he asked. “The opposition used abusive language against NRM supporters, accusing them of enabling someone to cling to power. Why would the police hear this and keep quiet? That is why some people did not turn up.”

The 2026 general elections were conducted amid a total internet shutdown and a heavy security crackdown on opposition supporters, developments that have drawn international scrutiny, particularly from Western countries.

The European Union has condemned the post-election crackdown, while several members of the United States Senate have urged President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on Uganda’s military chief and Museveni’s son, Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Muhoozi has warned that he would retaliate should the United States impose sanctions on him or other Ugandan government officials.

Meanwhile, Bobi Wine, who is reportedly in hiding, has appealed to stakeholders and the international community to exert maximum pressure on Museveni and his government.

The United States has previously imposed sanctions on Ugandan officials, including former Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI), Maj. Gen. Abel Kandiho, and Speaker of Parliament Anita Among.