The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretary General, Richard Todwong, has said he will never apologize to any party candidate who lost in the recent elections because the party did not support them. Todwong made the remarks during NRM victory celebrations in Gulu City, where he was explaining why the party’s candidate for the mayoral position, Alfred Okwonga, lost to Julius Acire Labeja, popularly known as Gunya, an independent NRM-leaning candidate.
Todwong said Okwonga was unsure about which position he wanted to contest. He added that, as Secretary General, he opted to support Labeja, who had previously served as his political assistant when he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in 2012. He further stated that Okwonga, who went through the NRM primary elections unopposed, later wrote to him seeking to change his candidature from Mayor to Member of Parliament—a request he did not respond to.
“In that period, Gunya was not contesting. NRM called Gunya to come and take the nomination since Okwonga did not know what he wanted, and then he came. If Okwonga were sure, nobody would come for his position. Now that it is done, he should come, and we work for NRM,” Todwong said.
However, during a press conference following the Local Government election results on January 24, 2026, Okwonga expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, blaming party leaders for his loss. He said that upon learning that some party leaders—including Todwong—were not supporting him, he wrote to both the NRM Secretariat and the Electoral Commission requesting to step down from the race, although his request was not granted by either institution.
“Another thing that I want to bring to light is the non-responsiveness of the NRM Secretariat to the letter which I wrote to them expressing my concern about party leaders sponsoring independent candidates against me. I expressed my position that if top leaders were interested in fronting independent candidates against official party flag bearers, then I was not willing to stand,” Okwonga said.
Okwonga’s case was not isolated. Several NRM members in Gulu City openly supported opposition and independent candidates based on personal preference, arguing that they were voting for competence rather than party affiliation. Speaking to Uganda Radio Network (URN), Lambert Akena Lamex, the NRM Administrative Assistant and Workers’ Representative to the Gulu City Council, said it is illegal for any party member to support a candidate other than the official NRM flag bearer for the same position.
“I think they are doing it out of personal interest, but the party does not allow that. If it reaches the Secretariat, they can be penalized. Even NRM members who failed in the primaries should not contest as independents because they could be forced to resign from any executive position in the party,” Akena explained.
Despite the warning, the penalties appeared to carry little weight, as party members remained divided and openly supported opposition and independent candidates across various positions in the city. For instance, the NRM Chairperson for Laroo Pece Division, Okot Tonny, rallied behind Democratic Party (DP) candidates for Division Member of Parliament and Division Mayor—Norbert Mao and Otim Geoffrey, respectively—despite the NRM having official flag bearers, Tonny Kitara for MP and Aber Gifter for Division Mayor.
In Bardege–Layibi Division, the NRM Chairperson, Jacob Ojok Otobi, publicly declared that he would not support Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the NRM flag bearer for Member of Parliament for Bardege–Layibi, instead backing DP’s Norbert Mao of Laroo Pece Division. Meanwhile, Labeja (Gunya) received the strongest backing from NRM members in the city against the party’s official flag bearer, Alfred Okwonga—a trend that began with support from the party’s Secretary General.
Gunya has since officially joined the NRM after emerging victorious as Gulu City Mayor-elect. He defeated five other candidates, polling 12,281 votes. Okwonga came second with 9,586 votes. Other independent candidates included Obonyo Marc Anthony with 1,023 votes, Okello Jonathan Snoop with 443 votes, Okello Denis Oweka with 340 votes, and Obonyo Patrick Wokorach with 67 votes.
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