Uganda’s First Lady Janet Kataaha Museveni has made a rare public commendation of the Daily Monitor newspaper, highlighting its impartial reporting of her parliamentary victory nearly two decades ago, as she urged voters in Ntungamo District to support the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) ahead of the January 2026 elections.
Speaking on Saturday during an NRM entry meeting and commissioning of village-level mobilization at Kyamate Secondary School in Ntungamo municipality, Janet Museveni recalled her own parliamentary campaign in Ruhaama constituency.
The praise is notable given the historically tense relations, with Nation Media Group outlets, including Daily Monitor and NTV Uganda, facing closure or threats and legal challenges since the mid-2000s, and in 2025 being barred from covering President Museveni and Parliament at the height of government control over politically sensitive reporting.
‘When I was still MP for Ruhaama county in 2006, my votes were reported perfectly by Daily Monitor. You see Monitor has been reporting ill but my votes were reported well,’ she said.
‘The first time. it said this woman got the biggest votes of all MPs who were contesting that year, yet people had discouraged me not to stand. But I said if God, my God, has sent me, I cannot fail to secure win,’ she added.
The First Lady, who also chairs the NRM district chapter, called on the people of Ntungamo to back President Museveni and all NRM flag bearers with near-unanimous votes.
‘Kindly let Ntungamo District vote 100% such that people can debate on it. When we did the president’s rally here recently, I promised him we shall secure 99% votes, leaving only 1% for other parties,’ she said, urging the electorate to give NRM ‘the full 100%.’
Janet Museveni linked support for the party to Uganda’s peace and security, stressing that the NRM government had restored stability after decades of turmoil.
‘I urged the general public to vote for the ruling NRM party to safeguard the country’s peace and security, saying that peace and stability enjoyed today were a nightmare for decades and should not be taken for granted,’ she said.
She warned that failure to support the party could risk a return to political instability and ethnic divisions, while commending the government’s role in ‘liberating the country’ and restoring hope to Ugandans forced into exile under past regimes.
The meeting, attended by at least 63 grassroots NRM members and flag bearers, also launched a parish-level mobilization campaign for the party.
James Tweheyo, NRM Workers League chairperson, described the door-to-door strategy as ‘essential for securing 100% votes for the president and all party candidates.’
Vice Chairman NRM Ntungamo District, Yona Musinguzi, pledged to mobilize communities, while official statistics show the district now has 315,037 registered voters and 812 polling stations, up from 268,541 in 2021.
In the last presidential election, Museveni secured 86.52% of votes in Ntungamo, far ahead of opposition candidates.