Mawokota South Member of Parliament and FDC deputy president for Central region, Yusuf Nsibambi has castigated the opposition as having no direction.
Speaking after declaring allegiance to NRM, Nsibambi said having been in elective politics for the last five years, he has realised opposition is not taking the country anywhere.
“I have been in opposition all my life, right from university and coming up with the decision to join NRM came in the recent elections. I was appointed by Mr. Kyagulanyi as the shadow minister for works and transport and I have been attending and participating in shadow meetings but for the last four or five years, we have never sat as to agree on any position,” he said.
“Throughout the four or five years, we have never sat as the opposition to agree on any position. You take a decision that we storm out of parliament without harmonising these positions. No party was invited at all to discuss these positions but we were asked to sit on stair cases, put on black, then you see the kind of politics which is confused. In fact, there is no proper direction in opposition,” Nsibambi added, referring to last year’s protest by the opposition MPs over the UPDF and political parties bills.
Nsibambi, who lost the Mawokota South MP seat in the just concluded parliamentary election has been in the new for the past two weeks for leading a group of opposition MPs and other politicians to meet President Museveni at State House in Entebbe.
He has since defended the move as one done like any other citizen would do.
On Monday, Nsibambi admitted he had been courted by Speaker Anita Among to join NRM, but noted that since the January, 14 elections that he lost, he realised there was no future in the opposition, forcing him to jump ship.
He also spoke of the 2026 campaigns that he said saw opposition politicians invest in gangs of youths to protect and canvas votes for him.
“When we went to campaigns, each and every candidate had to have Eggaali( a group of youths moving with candidates) who were misdirected to believe that there was going to be change through violence. Without Eggaali, one wouldn’t address the electorate. I watched and asked what was going on. I asked if we could have an ear and conversation with government, especially about youths who are incarcerated and their families are suffering.”
“My neighbour in Mawokota is Yasin Kawuma( Bobi’s driver killed in Arua) but his children are not going to school. No one has ever stepped there but we keep inciting people to demand for a lot of things. The person of demanding is nowhere to be seen. I therefore started interacting with the executive and top leaders in NRM… until I have joined.”
He said he is ready to serve the country as an NRM member, away from the “the opposition confusion.”
“I am here to work harmoniously and in a manner with tranquillity as chaos will not help bring development. I am ready to be given any task to serve our people.”
Speaker Anita Among welcomed Nsibambi to NRM that he described as a home which welcomes all kinds of visitors.
“In our culture a home that has visitors all the time is a good home. When you have good things at home you have a good home,” Among said.
The NRM Secretary General, Richard Todwong said the recruitment of Nsibambi is another big catch that he said speaks to the party mission.
“This speaks to historical mission of the party. The struggle of 1986 that brought NRM to government was strengthened and reinforced by comrades on the other side. That’s how NRM survives and strengthens by recruiting. We see this as the DNA for NRM as forces we used to disagree with come we reconcile and work together,” Todwong said.
“We focus at things that unite Ugandans. That’s why during our campaigns our candidate didn’t speak about any political party or individual but things concerning Ugandans. Those who don’t believe in NRM should realise our manifesto of NRM summarises needs of everybody.”
