Say no to tribalism - Museveni

President Museveni used a televised Independence Day eve address last night to rally Ugandans to reject tribalism, saying the country needs unity to glue it together and expand markets to enable citizens to prosper.

“You should reject the serial idea of politics of identity, but join politics of value and ideas. Those who emphasise tribes, religion, sectarianism, and gender chauvinism want to turn us into a Latin America in Africa and yet we the freedom movement want to build a United States of Africa in Africa. Latin America is very rich in terms of natural resources, much richer than the United States but they are fragmented and not organised. This environment doesn’t encourage business,” Mr Museveni said.

Key areas

He outlined eight areas, among them fighting corruption and protecting the environment, where he said progress will make Uganda’s socio-economic transformation “unstoppable”.

“We insist that in order to ensure the economic and social prosperity of our people, we must not forget their needs; food, jobs, market for their products, sources of raw materials for their industries. The prosperity of our people will come from our people selling their products to the Ugandan and African markets; that is why we encourage patriotism and Pan-Africanism and reject,” he said.

Looming Executive Order

To protect nature, the President said he planned to issue a detailed Executive Order, which would be his second this year, to end environmental degradation and encroachment on ecologically fragile areas.

He said: “Environmental assets provide us with the three most essential life-sustaining elements: air, water, and food. We cannot survive without any of them, and they are responsible for plentiful rain, which supports human personal use and food production. Those in wetlands must peacefully vacate.”

“Those in Busoga and Bukedea were misled by the governments during earlier regimes. We will assist them and relocate them to other places. But for now, they need to understand that they need to vacate wetlands. People who encroach on wetlands must leave immediately,” Mr Museveni added. 

“I will issue a detailed executive order and those who fail to implement it will be held liable for their actions. Why must we destroy the wetlands? There must be no slums near water bodies and organised and residential houses built in wetlands must be demolished immediately,” the President added.

Mr Museveni, who lashed out at foreigners seeking to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, said aid is a problem when misapplied in development. He said foreigners must not impose their foreign values on the internal issues of Uganda and “that is why we separate internal affairs and foreign affairs”.

He added: “Why do you want to impose your foreign values on our internal affairs through foreign affairs office? We happily work with countries across the world that respect our sovereignty. That is how the UN system should operate. No country should interfere in the internal affairs of another country.”