Museveni chairs NRM Parliamentary Caucus at Kololo

Kampala — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni on Friday chaired a meeting of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary Caucus at Kololo Ceremonial Independence Grounds, bringing together legislators and senior party officials for talks on national priorities.

Museveni, who is also the NRM national chairman, was received by Second Deputy Prime Minister Dr Crispus Kiyonga, members of the Central Executive Committee, and officials from the party secretariat. The delegation was led by NRM Secretary General Richard Todwong. Office of the National Chairman manager Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo was also among the CEC members at the grounds.

Party sources said the session was addressing issues of national importance and matters tied to the country’s development. The NRM has not published a full agenda. Caucus meetings of this kind are normally used to align the party’s parliamentary wing on government programmes, legislation, and positions on key national questions as Parliament takes up its business.

The gathering comes a day after Museveni, speaking at national celebrations for the International Day of Older Persons at State House, Entebbe, set out a series of proposals on care and livelihoods for older Ugandans. Those remarks were made under the theme “Ageing with Dignity: Strengthening Care and Support Systems,” not at the Kololo caucus.

On Thursday he said older people carry a heavy burden of medical conditions and costs, and argued that government should sponsor and recruit a geriatrician in each district to offer free, continuous care. He has also directed that more than 140 geriatricians be trained within three years and deployed across districts. Uganda’s older population is estimated at about 2.3 million.

He said the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Public Service should plan scholarships so doctors can specialise, noting that geriatricians do for older adults what paediatricians do for children. He also urged guidance on nutrition and regular physical exercise, saying many conditions linked to ageing are worsened by lifestyle.

On the economy, Museveni said government would tailor a Parish Development Model window for older persons once heavy spending linked to hosting the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with Kenya and Tanzania, eases. He defended the existing 10 percent PDM allocation for older persons and said parish officials should not withhold the money on the grounds that elders might not repay it. The test, he said, is that the funds are not misused. He suggested activities such as goat rearing, which place fewer physical demands on older beneficiaries.

He also cautioned against splitting family land and productive assets through physical inheritance, which he described as a threat to rural wealth and agricultural productivity. The stated aim is that older people who already have wealth keep it, while those without it are supported to build some through government programmes.

Friday’s Kololo sitting puts those recent policy signals in front of the party’s legislators, even if the caucus brief itself has not been spelled out. For the NRM, the meeting is another step in coordinating its parliamentary wing ahead of the legislative calendar. What MPs take back to the House — on elderly care, PDM, land, or other national business — will become clearer once the party releases the President’s guidance.