By Kyeswa Hakim
I have spent most of my life defending the NRM. I have walked village paths, sat under trees, and explained to my people why they should trust the Movement. I spoke passionately about the Parish Development Model (PDM) and the government’s commitment to bringing every Ugandan into the money economy. I believed in this promise.
But in recent weeks, watching bulldozers roll through our municipalities, I felt my own words turn bitter.
From Jinja to Mbarara, Gulu to Mbale, the scene is the same: men and women staring at the wreckage of their businesses, hands trembling. In Jinja, I met Nalongo Grace, who had taken a PDM loan of Shs 800,000 to expand her vegetable stall. She had painted her small structure in NRM colours to show gratitude. Last Thursday, it was gone, crushed under iron sheets along with her tomatoes, onions, and cabbages. She did not cry; she was beyond tears. “But I paid my taxes. I was trying to follow the money economy,” she kept repeating.
This is what haunts me. We are demolishing the very people we promised to uplift.
The directive came from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government. While the aim of enforcing order is understandable, imposing it from Kampala without considering the dynamics of each municipality is not governance,it is administration disguised as violence. In Kampala, authorities negotiate phased redevelopment and provide alternative spaces. Upcountry towns, however, face bulldozers first, questions later. Citizens are left asking: “Are we not equal?”
The numbers are staggering. Over 60% of Ugandans outside agriculture depend on the informal sector, kiosks, markets, workshops. These are engines of the money economy. In Mbarara alone, over 2,000 businesses were demolished in a single week, affecting nearly 10,000 dependents. In Jinja, 5,000 vendors were displaced, with an estimated annual turnover of Shs 300 billion. These funds are not abstract,they cover school fees, medical bills, meals, and reinvestment.
The Parish Development Model adds another layer of concern. Many of the demolished structures were funded by PDM loans. People invested, tried to repay, and now face destruction without relief. What will happen to repayment rates? To SACCOs? We are strangling our own child.
I am not against order. Streets must be navigable, stalls regulated, and markets dignified. But order cannot destroy livelihoods. Uganda has local government structures, from village LCs to RDCs and mayors, yet these were bypassed. A simple consultation at the parish level could have identified which traders needed relocation, which were safe, and which could be regularized. Instead, blanket demolitions swept lawful and unlawful alike.
Politically, this risks pushing citizens toward opposition. People feel betrayed. They trusted the NRM to deliver the money economy, and now they feel excluded. When a mother whose stall was demolished asks, “Where is the NRM now?” I have no easy answer. I can only admit that a mistake was made, and it must be corrected.
Each municipality has its own dynamics. Fort Portal is not Gulu; Masaka is not Lira. Traders know their towns. They know which markets have stood for generations. But they were never asked.
I call on my party and government to suspend these operations immediately. Let us return to parishes and municipalities, sit with citizens, verify PDM status, map traders, and provide alternatives before demolition. If relocation is necessary, provide designated sites; if regularization is needed, give timelines and affordable fees. Treat people as partners, not obstacles.
The promise to embrace Ugandans into the money economy cannot be fulfilled by destroying their livelihoods. The NRM was founded on the principle that people matter, that development must be felt by the ordinary Ugandan. We risk losing that principle if we equate a circular from a Permanent Secretary, executed by bulldozers, with governance.
Trade order is necessary, but it must have a human face. Dialogue, respect, and empathy are essential. Otherwise, we are not only demolishing kiosks, we are dismantling the trust that binds this Movement.
The author is an NRM cadre and NRM Publicity Secretary, Mukono District.
Email: hakimkim255@gmail.com