Opondo shoots back: Mbabazi undermined government and that is why he was fired

By Stephen Kalema

Government spokesman Ofwono Opondo has refuted statements made by former Prime Minister that he was sacked because he advised President Museveni to retire from politics.

On Sunday at Kihihi High School in Kanungu District, Amama Mbabazi said he told his former boss to let the young generation to take up the leadership because Museveni had ‘overstayed’ in power.

“I thank him for his leadership but time comes when you have to retire. So whenever we get political differences in Uganda we become enemies that is not right,” said Mbabazi during a fundraising drive for the school.

But Ofwono on Tuesday said Mbabazi was sacked by the President on September 14, 2014 as a Prime Minister since he was undermining the government he was serving.

“I don’t think he was fully thoughtful of what he said; that he was removed simply because he advised President Museveni to retire. That one is a total lie,”  Ofwono Opondo said at the Media Centre, adding that if that was the case, then Mbabazi also is no longer young.

“How come that he claims that he was advising President to retire and leave for the young generation yet in the 2016 Presidential Elections he came out also to contest?” Ofwono Opondo asked.

Mbabazi served as Defence Minister for 10 years under President Museveni. Other duties held included, Director General of Security, Secretary General of the NRM party, Prime Minister and Minister of Security among others.

“If he told he told president to retire I challenge him to bring out that letter that he wrote advising President to resign, let him publish it,” Ofwono Opondo dared.

“Mbabazi claimed throughout his campaign, for example, he run because after all those years with Museveni, he (Museveni) did not have any influence. Now he is saying other things. I think that is why Ugandans did not believe what he was saying.”

However, according to  Ofwono Opondo, the two politicians are still friends.

The two were last cited together publicly in August when President Museveni and his wife attended the wedding Mbabazi’s niece Bridget Birungi and the son of South African President, Andile Ramaphosa.