NRM Govt spokesman Ofwono Opondo says things aren’t good in NRM anymore and fears the ruling party could crumble anytime soon unless urgent reforms are carried out to make the party more attractive to especially young people.
Opondo, who during the Saturday Capital Gang hinted on his exit from public service, says NRM has been hijacked by fortune-hunters and political careerists, something that has pushed ideologically serious cadres to the periphery.
Opondo says NRM has degenerated to a level where positive criticism and ambition has become criminalized and now top officials fear to say anything during Caucus, NEC, CEC & National conference meetings.
This, he says, has made President Museveni to appear like a Catholic Priest whose Sunday Holy Mass Christians attend unquestioningly without ever being permitted to make any criticism regarding the priest’s personal conduct.
Opondo (who has spoken for Museveni for 19 years) repeats what Andrew M. Mwenda said recently that NRM bosses now can only go to places like Makerere University and get an audience to address only if they are given money to give the young people to come and listen to them.
Opondo says unlike opposition supporters (like those of Bobi’s people power) who are hardworking and self-driven, bosses in NRM can’t do any political mobilization unless Yoweri Kaguta Museveni first gives them money.
Opondo advises party members to overcome fear and become outspoken about the problems affecting the masses. If they don’t, they risk becoming irrelevant in the country.
Many have since likened Opondo’s latest critical views (published in Sunday Vision) to the 1999 critical document that preceded Dr. Kizza Besigye’s acrimonious departure from the NRM.