Opposition MPs welcomed the Former Premier John Patrick Amama Mbabazi’s decision to stand as an independent presidential candidate for 2016 General elections. They said that Mbabazi’s quitting of NRM will give the opposition a platform to win.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament, the Leader of Opposition Phillip Wafula Ogutu said any percentage taken from NRM during elections will definitely affect president Museveni. He stated that the division in the NRM might cause a re-run of the elections as most NRM party members are likely to vote for former Premier Amama Mbabazi. He noted that it is not clear whether anyone would win on the 1st round of election

Busiro South MP in Wakiso District Joseph Mutebi Balikuddembe said NRM will be affected if Mbabazi run as an independent Presidential candidate and it was a big blow to the NRM Party.

Former National Resistance Movement (NRM) Secretary General Amama Mbabazi decided to run as an independent candidate in the 2016 elections. Mbabazi said he was not quitting the NRM but that he was not willing to participate in the party primaries because the rules of the game are not fair.

Speaking to journalists at his Kololo home, Mbabazi said that he would be the duly elected president of Uganda come next year. He said that he is going to start a journey and at the end of it he will be the elected President of Uganda, adding that he is now waiting to be nominated as presidential candidate by the national Electoral Commission.

He said that as a lawyer, a founding NRM member and patriotic citizen he could not allow himself to be part of an illegality.