By Julius Kashugi Lyvine
KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda’s political landscape has long been shaped by leaders and organisers who understand that electoral politics is not won only in conference halls or through speeches delivered from podiums. It is also built through sustained engagement with communities, local structures and ordinary citizens.
Among the figures who have attracted attention for this kind of grassroots engagement is Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye, the head of the Office of the National Chairman (ONC) of the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
In my view, what distinguishes Namyalo is the highly visible and practical character of her mobilisation approach. Rather than relying exclusively on political messaging, she has increasingly associated the ONC with community outreach, youth engagement, women’s initiatives and the distribution of equipment intended to support income-generating activities.
That approach has earned her a prominent place within the NRM’s grassroots mobilisation machinery and has made her a recognisable figure among groups that the party is seeking to keep connected to its political and development agenda.
The description of Namyalo as a “grassroots dynamo” is ultimately an opinion, not an objective measurement. But there is evidence of an extensive programme of community engagements and empowerment activities carried out through the office she heads.
From political mobilisation to practical engagement
The ONC was established under Chapter Four, Clause 14, Subsection 1 of the NRM constitution. According to the office’s official website, its primary purpose is to support the NRM National Chairman in implementing the party’s principles, policies and other programmes.
President Yoweri Museveni is the NRM National Chairman, while Namyalo currently heads the ONC and also serves as a Senior Presidential Advisor.
This institutional position gives the office an important role within the ruling party’s organisational structure.
The significance of Namyalo’s approach, however, lies not only in the formal responsibilities attached to the ONC. It is also in how those responsibilities are translated into activities at community level.
The ONC has documented numerous initiatives involving youth, women, traders and other community groups. These activities have included the distribution of equipment such as sewing machines, mechanics’ toolboxes, salon equipment, agricultural tools and motorcycles.
In June 2024, for example, an ONC empowerment programme in Entebbe involved the distribution of motorcycles, grinders, bricklaying equipment, dryers, sewing machines and mowers to beneficiaries. The ONC said the initiative was intended to support entrepreneurship and self-reliance.
Such interventions help explain why Namyalo’s political style is often perceived as more hands-on than purely rhetorical.
The distinction matters in a country where political parties increasingly compete for the attention of young people, women, informal-sector workers and other groups whose daily concerns are often dominated by unemployment, access to capital and the cost of starting a business.
Why youth remain central to the strategy
Young Ugandans represent an important constituency for any political organisation seeking to build long-term grassroots support.
For many young people, political promises have little meaning unless they can be connected to practical opportunities. Access to vocational equipment, capital, training and income-generating activities can therefore become a powerful component of political mobilisation.
In March 2026, reports indicated that the ONC engaged youth groups from informal settlements in Kampala and distributed motorcycles and vocational equipment. The reported beneficiaries included groups involved in boda boda transport and mechanical work.
The same initiative involved sewing machines for women’s groups and toolboxes for young mechanics.
These activities illustrate the philosophy behind Namyalo’s public-facing mobilisation: connect political engagement with interventions that beneficiaries can potentially use to generate income.
That does not, by itself, prove that every beneficiary will achieve economic independence. Nor does the distribution of equipment eliminate the broader structural challenges facing Uganda’s youth.
But it does demonstrate a political strategy that attempts to make grassroots mobilisation tangible.
Women and vulnerable communities
Women have also featured prominently in the ONC’s empowerment programmes.
The office has reported supporting women with equipment designed for tailoring, salon businesses and other small enterprises. Such initiatives are particularly significant in informal communities, where women frequently operate small businesses with limited access to formal credit.
In Kampala’s informal settlements, the ONC has also engaged groups that are often politically and economically marginalised.
A February 2026 report described an engagement involving more than 100 young people from Makindye, Katwe and Kisenyi who sought assistance in accessing government programmes, including the Parish Development Model (PDM), Emyooga and other initiatives. The young people reportedly complained about barriers to accessing government support.
The episode is important because it highlights another dimension of grassroots mobilisation: listening to complaints.
Political mobilisation is not simply about telling communities what government has achieved. It also requires political actors to understand why some citizens remain unable to benefit from programmes designed for them.
When young people say they cannot access government financing because of bureaucracy or other barriers, that complaint deserves attention regardless of political affiliation.
The PDM question
The Parish Development Model has become one of the central pillars of Uganda’s strategy for moving households from subsistence activity into the money economy.
The ONC has been involved in efforts to sensitise communities about government wealth-creation programmes, including PDM and Emyooga.
In July 2024, President Museveni met coordinators working under the ONC and emphasised the need to improve access to PDM and Emyooga and ensure that parish residents are included in wealth-creation efforts.
That places the ONC in an important position between political mobilisation and public-programme awareness.
It also creates a responsibility.
If political offices become involved in connecting citizens to government programmes, they must ensure that beneficiaries understand eligibility requirements and that public resources are administered transparently and according to established rules.
Grassroots mobilisation is most sustainable when citizens see political engagement as more than an exchange of support for immediate benefits.
A model built around visibility
Namyalo’s public profile has also been shaped by her physical presence at community events.
Whether addressing young people, women, traders or other groups, her activities are frequently documented through photographs, speeches and reports from the ONC.
That visibility is itself part of modern political communication.
Social media has transformed how politicians and political organisations communicate with citizens. A community empowerment event can now reach audiences far beyond the people physically present.
For a political movement such as the NRM, which has governed Uganda for decades, maintaining a connection with younger generations is particularly important.
Namyalo’s energetic public style appears designed, at least in part, to make the NRM’s political message visible in places where national political institutions can sometimes feel distant.
The approach is therefore both political and communicative.
The meaning of “actions, not words”
The phrase “not mdomo mdomo” — loosely understood as “not merely talking” — captures the argument behind this assessment of Namyalo.
The point is not that speeches are unimportant. Political leadership requires communication, policy explanation and persuasion.
But speeches alone cannot solve unemployment, provide a sewing machine to a tailor, equip a mechanic or help a small entrepreneur start a business.
That is where practical empowerment becomes politically significant.
An intervention involving a productive asset can potentially create a continuing economic benefit beyond the day on which it is handed over.
For example, a sewing machine can enable a tailor to serve customers, generate income and potentially employ another person. A mechanic’s toolbox can improve the capacity of an existing workshop. A motorcycle can become an income-generating asset when used responsibly in transport services.
The long-term outcome, however, depends on several factors: maintenance, market demand, access to working capital, business skills and the broader economic environment.
Therefore, empowerment programmes should ultimately be assessed not only by the number of items distributed, but also by what happens to beneficiaries afterwards.
Political mobilisation and accountability
There is another side to the debate that should not be ignored.
Because the ONC is part of the NRM’s political structure, empowerment programmes associated with it naturally have a political dimension.
The ONC itself openly describes its role in relation to the NRM and its National Chairman. Some of its community programmes have also been conducted within the broader context of strengthening grassroots support for President Museveni and the NRM.
That political context does not automatically invalidate the programmes.
Political parties around the world engage communities, communicate policies and seek support. What matters is whether public resources and party resources are clearly distinguished, whether beneficiaries are treated fairly and whether citizens remain free to make their political choices.
This distinction is particularly important in Uganda’s electoral environment.
An empowerment programme can have both developmental and political implications at the same time.
The appropriate response is therefore not to dismiss such initiatives simply because they have political associations, but to examine their financing, implementation, beneficiary selection and measurable outcomes.
A broader grassroots strategy
Namyalo’s activities should also be viewed within the NRM’s broader effort to maintain grassroots structures.
The NRM has historically placed significant emphasis on local organisation, mobilisation and community structures. Its continued political dominance has been supported in part by its extensive organisational presence across the country.
The ONC provides one mechanism through which the party’s National Chairman can engage with communities and political structures.
Namyalo’s role has consequently become increasingly visible within this architecture.
Her approach combines political messaging with community engagement, youth outreach, women’s mobilisation and economic empowerment initiatives.
That combination may explain why supporters view her as an energetic mobiliser.
Critics, meanwhile, are entitled to ask whether empowerment programmes produce sustainable economic outcomes and whether political considerations influence access to benefits.
Both questions are legitimate.
The test is sustainability
Ultimately, the strongest measure of any empowerment programme is not the ceremony surrounding the handover of equipment.
It is what happens afterwards.
Does the beneficiary remain in business?
Does income increase?
Are jobs created?
Can the recipient maintain the equipment?
Does the programme help a household move from economic vulnerability towards greater stability?
These are the questions that can transform political claims into measurable evidence.
The ONC has itself indicated an interest in documenting the experiences of beneficiaries and the jobs created through empowerment initiatives.
Such follow-up would be valuable.
It would allow the public to move beyond competing political narratives and assess the actual impact of grassroots empowerment.
Why Namyalo’s role matters
Whether one agrees with the NRM or not, grassroots mobilisation remains a central feature of Ugandan politics.
Political parties need people who can communicate with communities, understand local concerns and translate broad political messages into practical engagement.
Namyalo has clearly embraced that role.
Her supporters see her as energetic, accessible and action-oriented. Her critics may question the political motivations and long-term effectiveness of some initiatives. Both perspectives form part of the wider public discussion surrounding the ONC.
What can be established from available records is that she has presided over a series of community engagements and empowerment activities targeting youth, women and other groups.
The scale and durability of their impact will require continued evidence.
For now, however, her approach represents an important development in the way political mobilisation is being conducted: less emphasis on the microphone alone and greater emphasis on physical presence, community outreach and practical interventions.
Conclusion
Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo’s growing visibility within Uganda’s grassroots political landscape is not difficult to understand.
She operates at the intersection of political mobilisation, community outreach and economic empowerment, and her public activities have increasingly focused on groups that often occupy the margins of formal economic and political life.
The description of her as a “grassroots dynamo” remains an opinion, but the underlying activity is documented by the ONC and reported by Ugandan media.
The more important question now is whether the practical empowerment model can produce lasting economic results.
If beneficiaries can turn donated equipment into sustainable enterprises, create jobs and improve household incomes, the initiatives will have significance beyond political mobilisation.
If they do not, the programmes risk remaining highly visible political events without equally visible long-term economic outcomes.
That is why the next chapter of Namyalo’s grassroots work should be judged not simply by how many crowds she addresses or how many assets are distributed, but by what those interventions ultimately achieve in the lives of ordinary Ugandans.
In that sense, the real test of “actions, not words” is simple: the results must eventually speak for themselves.
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