By Aggrey Baba
Hon. Betty Nambooze has lashed out at President Yoweri Museveninand the NRM, claiming that their support base has now shrunk to three types of people (criminals, government workers protecting their jobs, and selfish individuals seeking opportunities to embezzle public funds).
Speaking on Thursday morning during a televised interview on NTV Uganda, the Mukono municipality legislator said that normal Ugandans no longer identify with the rulling party or its leadership.
“Normal people nolonger support Museveni,” Nambooze stated, before claiming that those still backing the regime are either beneficiaries of the system or are scared of losing their jobs.
She said that the first group includes individuals with criminal records who have been protected from justice because of their alignment with the regime. She cited a recent example of a man [Hon. Mark Mawanda], who recently led a group of protestors to the German Embassy despite having “a lot of crimes,” saying the system is shielding him from accountability.
The second category, according to the NUP leader, is made up of uniformed officers and civil servants who support Museveni not out of belief but to keep their salaries and property.
“The third group is the self-seekers. Those who hang around looking for ways to rob or embezzle,” she added.
Nambooze said that in her own backyard of Mukono, the decline of the NRM is evident, claiming that no serious person wanted to run on the NRM ticket in the recently concluded local elections.
“In Mukono, all the old people went through unopposed in the just concluded elections for the elderly. Not a single one contested on the yellow ticket,” she said, suggesting that even veteran party supporters are now ashamed to be associated with the ruling party.
In a dramatic recollection, the Mukono legislator told a story of an elderly man in her constituency who once publicly shouted “NRM Oyee” before burning his own car. “Later he claimed opposition supporters had burnt it, but we knew the truth,” she said. “That’s how desperate and shaming it has become to identify with NRM.”
President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, has not indicated any intention to step down. While the NRM still controls Parliament and the majority of districts, critics say the party has failed to address rampant corruption, youth unemployment, and the high cost of living (issues that continue to stir public discontent).
The NRM party secretariat has recently embarked on nationwide mobilisation, defending its track record and promising to rejuvenate the party ahead of the 2026 polls.
However, opposition figures like Nambooze insist that the ruling party has lost legitimacy and is only surviving through intimidation, manipulation, and patronage.
“It is not a government of the people anymore. It is a shelter for the guilty, the fearful and the greedy,” she said.
