According to the Director of Information at the Movement Secretariat, Ofwono Opondo, the NRM is not yet rallying the population because they are waiting for the court to dispose of the petition against the Political Parties and Organisation Act (PPOA).
"We are waiting for the court to dispose of the petition challenging the law under which the NRM was registered. We expected the petition would be dropped by the end of March and planned to have a Delegates' Conference in April, but the court has not yet decided on the petition," said Opondo.
In spite of Opondo's explanation, some observers say that the NRM is in a static mode because of the status of the NRM vis-à-vis the Movement as an State organ.
Recent press reports that the NRM would not issue membership cards show that the NRM wants to disengage itself from the Movement (as an organ of the State), but still retain the Movement's popular appeal.
But Joseph Balikudembe, lawyer for the opposition Democratic Party (DP), says the NRM's new posture as a mass political organisation is an attempt to beat the bad provisions of PPOA.
"The PPOA is such a bad law that the NRM can't do much under its provisions. For instance, they have failed to convene a delegates' conference within the specified period.
Because they can't do much under PPOA, they are taking advantage of the Movement structures," said Balikudemebe.
The press recently quoted Opondo as saying that the NRM viewed itself as a mass organisation and therefore would not issue membership cards. Mass political organisations are born under specific circumstances that call for patriotism as opposed to political coalitions which are always about electioneering and political advantages. In the spirit of liberation (and the circumstances of the time in South Africa), the African National Congress (ANC) entered a partnership with the Pan African Congress (PAC), Communist Party of South Africa (CP) and other civil society groups like the Confederation of South African Trade Union (COSATU). (PAC later pull outed of the partnership.)
The situation in South Africa was like that under which the triumphant rebel National Resistance Movement partnered with (or absorbed?) other political and military groups opposed to the UPC government in 1986.
Peter Walubiri, Chairman of Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) National Organising Committee says a mass political organisation reminds him of the Communist Party of the former Soviet Union.
"In the Soviet Union, the masses were told they all belonged to the party, but when the Iron Curtain fell, the masses found out it was a lie. The NRM wants to position itself as a mass political organisation is because its leaders just cannot run a political party. They are only used to running organisations that recruit membership by forced conscription.
They are just hiding their failure behind the façade of mass political organisation. Otherwise strong parties like UPC are built on shared interests, ideology and vision," says Walubiri.
Opondo says the NRM envisages a situation like that in the USA where not all people sympathising with a particular political party are card-carrying members.
"A membership card is not going to be a prerequisite for membership of the NRM. Only members in leadership positions would be required to have membership cards," said Opondo.