Is the NRM entering its final form: Leader-of-Opposition phase?

Ofwono Opondo

The latest buzz in the headlines that has us on yet another high is Ofwono Opondo’s refreshing candor on the floor of Parliament about the growing state-sanctioned impunity.

What makes OO’s intervention noteworthy is not merely what he said, but who is saying it. When a longtime defender of the establishment openly voices concern about state-sanctioned impunity in light of a looming political ransition, it signals unease from within the very system that nurtured it.

A longstanding New Vision newspaper columnist in defence of the regime, Ofwono Opondo (OO) was previously the Uganda government media centre chief and deputy spokesperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), taking shots at all and sundry – save for the President and his family.

In his enduring *New Vision *weekly column on October 5, OO, reechoed sentiments raised by the blunt-talking fire-spitting unapologetic General Kahinda Otafiire, one of the bush war historicals and longest-serving cabinet ministers, about the escalating impunity cropping up in the country.

OO stated, “I come in peace, and speaking to many in Cabinet, Parliament, top echelons of the UPDF and the Police, as well as other Ugandans including ordinary market vendors, there is rising public concern.”

He continued, “Muhoozi needs to know that even when many Ugandans may be silent, and others are actively fanning his reported ambition to run for president in 2031… the path has thorns, which those people employing hubris may not be effectively able to handle.”

It stood out like a sore thumb that OO who was perhaps the longest-standing mouthpiece of the ruling party, had to preface his rather tame statement about developments unfolding on the ruling party’s watch, with the phrase, “I come in peace…”.

OO is a man who does not stay down – despite some unsavory and violent blots on his track record, OO continues unruffled when these are thrown in his face to remind him that his credibility has long been in question.

No longer directly in the employ of the NRM or the government, OO successfully contested for the parliamentary seat representing the elderly (Eastern Uganda) during the 2026 general election.

He joined Parliament, an institution that has many a time been at the bitter end of his unforgiving barbs. As an MP, OO continues to show that he is his own Ugandan beyond the gilded privilege of belonging to the ruling party.

Last week on the floor of Parliament, OO spoke candidly and calmly about the worrying spate of abductions of activists and opposition supporters. OO seems at odds with the bizarre times we are in.

How will the current Parliament leadership, some of whom sit on the core team of MK’s Patriotic League of Uganda (PLU), respond to a challenge from within? As you might have noticed, PLU is scrambling to redefine itself as a pressure group within NRM.

Several prominent ruling party members and government officials are currently doing the ‘mostest’ to demonstrate their unbridled support for General Muhoozi Kainerugaba’s purported presidential candidacy and his outfit, PLU.

The rising militarism and rule-by-mob-justice heralded by PLU is set on quashing all manner of dissent – adding to the longrunning criminalization of dissent by the NRM. OO’s concerns emerge at a moment when internal debate within the NRM appears increasingly constrained by the growing influence of MK and PLU pitting the older NRM guard of Museveni loyalists against the young and restless hordes of the son.

A smoking hot family affair that has Uganda in a chokehold. Look at how PLU honchos take premium umbrage at NRM leaders who question the legitimacy of PLU’s presidential campaigns before the dust has even settled on the first year of NRM’s 2026- 2031 tenure.

Millie Babalanda, the Minister for the Presidency, is currently in PLU’s crosshairs for daring to question PLU. Babalanda in a November 1* New Vision* article, ‘Time to extend humility to Museveni supporters’, emphasizes, “I have no fundamental objection to Ugandans discussing future leadership or preparing for political transition through lawful means. Such a time will come as leadership tenures are subject to the Constitution and the passage of time…”

Dear reader, OO, a member of the ruling NRM is no ordinary voice. And what an opportunity!

He represents the ruling establishment beholden to its everlasting presidential sole candidate and chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, struggling to define itself beyond Museveni as a precarious political transition unfolds.

Some have described PLU’s unashamed takeover as a creeping coup – the breakneck speed at which PLU is driving the unwieldy and sagging NRM bus is worrisome for the NRM and by default, national stability.

OO’s “I come in peace” implies that the corridors of power have narrowed and are tightly controlled – that his column, his voice in parliament and on radio will perhaps waft into those tightly guarded corridors to the heart of the presidency.

More importantly, OO’s voice validates and amplifies what the demonized opposition and foreign-funded activists have been saying for a while now amidst an increasingly hostile environment.

This voice, because it is not from the opposition and activists that regime apologists love to hate, is hard to explain away and that is the finest privilege. What’s the worst that could happen to OO that would not upend MK and PLU?

Will MK braggadaciously demand another futile apology or have his boys pluck OO off the streets of Kampala for a sojourn in the ‘basement’? Therafa, OO is right on the mark, urging NRM leaders and members to speak truth to power – because after all, last time we checked the electoral results, the NRM is the party in power, right?

If there was ever a time for NRM members to exercise their privilege, this is the time. Ba dia, protect those gains. Dear reader, if one refuses to listen to the demonized opposition or the so-called foreign-funded activists, one would do well to heed the warnings or opposition-sounding noises coming from within the ruling establishment.

Whether his warning is heeded or ignored remains to be seen, but it reflects a growing unease that is becoming harder to dismiss. Besides, OO, as an MP representing the elderly, has earned the stripes that demand our rapt and youthful attention in this country of Jaaja Museveni’s* bazzukulu.*

Enjoy this Igbo proverb: “What the elders see while sitting, the young ones standing on their toes won’t see.”

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The writer is a tayaad muzzukulu.

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