Defeated opposition legislators Richard Lumu of Mityana South and Lulume Bayiga of Buikwe South confirmed that a number of opposition leaders are in talks with President Museveni’s government and very soon they are going to announce their crossing over to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Lumu said that the decision to join Museveni is not because they are tired of fighting his government but it’s because of the leadership style of Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine) the leader of National Unity Platform (NUP), the strongest opposition political party.
Appearing on Kabaka Ronald Muwenda Mutebi’s CBS radio, Lumu said that the reason why experienced opposition leaders were defeated in the 2026 general election is not because NRM is strong but it’s because members in the opposition are fighting themselves.
“I talk to many opposition leaders and a number of them are willing to join President Museveni’s government as my senior colleague and also my lecture at Makerere university law school Yusuf Nsibambi did. They are just scared of what people will say but they are tired of working with the current opposition leadership. If my colleague Bayiga and opposition leaders narrate to you how NUP fought them and humiliated them, you would understand that these people have another agenda and fighting Museveni government is not one of them,” Lumu said.
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He asserted that NUP does not have the capacity to take back the political positions which NRM took from the opposition adding that Bobi Wine’s actions are going to weaken opposition more.
He blasted Joel Ssenyonyi the Leader of Opposition in Parliament for attacking Nsibambi because of his decision to join NRM instead of them sitting down and dissecting the situation to understand why experienced leaders like him are leaving the struggle.
“The day I will join Museveni government, I will first address a press conference, and my crossing will be open, but of now, I’m still concentrating on running my law firm,” Lumu said.
He was supported by People’s Front for Freedom (PFF) vice president in charge of Buganda Bayiga who said that the current opposition leadership came with a mission of destroying all serious opposition leaders in Buganda region, and they have managed to achieve their mission by undermining senior politicians who thought that they joined the opposition with good faith.
“But we have already started strategizing on how to make a comeback. Previously, we only met in parliament, on plane but this time, since we are out of public service, we are going to check and discover why we were defeated,” Bayiga said.
Both Bayiga and Lumu who contested on independent ticket after denouncing his political party the Democratic Party after its leadership which signed a cooperation agreement with Museveni government rubbished Bobi Wine’s address at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy where he called upon developed countries to sanction President Museveni, his son and also the Chief of Defence Forces(CDF) Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba, top government officials, judges, security bosses over the alleged violation of Ugandan human rights.
Lumu said that Bobi Wine’s call is not going to help change the leadership in Uganda. He explained that since 1996, opposition leaders like Dr Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere and Dr Kizza Besigye have been calling for sanctions against Museveni government and cutting of the collaborations but nothing has achieved
He insisted that Museveni is executing the interests of the whites in Africa, and on that ground, they cannot fight him. He advised Bobi Wine to come back to Uganda and join Ugandans to fight Museveni instead of wasting his time on reporting to whites.
Highly placed sources in NUP told Ono Bwno that it was a calculated move by Bobi Wine to fight the said experienced opposition leaders since most of them first declined to welcome him when he joined opposition politics.
“When he was contesting in the Busiro East by election, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) denied him their ticket, Besigye didn’t support him, Betty Nambooze asked him for money to support him. So, in one our early meetings, the principal told us to fight so hard to teach those people a lesson that we can politically defeat them. Now even if Bobi Wine retires from active politics, we have achieved what we wanted apart and we are now left with defeating Museveni,” a close friend to Bobi Wine told Ono Bwino.
He boasted that whites have a lot of trust in Bobi Wine and it is the reason why Museveni is panicking by arresting all NUP top leaders and their supporters.
Since he joined politics, a number of government officials have been sanctioned among them include; speaker of parliament Annet Anita Among, Gen Edward Kale Kayihura, Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, Maj Gen Stephen Sabiiti, Maj Gen Don Nabasa, Maj Gen Frank Kandiho, Maj Gen James Birungi, AIGP Frank Mwesigwa and Maj Gen Christopher Ddamulira.
