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I am here on mission - Museveni
Supporters of President Museveni jubilate as he addressed a meeting of NRM leaders in Kumi District on November 23, 2020. He described his opponents in the 2021 election race as as ‘job seekers’. PHOTOS/KELVIN ATUHAIRE
What you need to know:
- “NRM came to deal with historical problems of Uganda and Africa. We are not job seekers. They think that I am here because I am looking for a job. They are lying themselves,” President Museveni
President Museveni has described his opponents in the 2021 presidential race as ‘job seekers’ who have no mission to transform Uganda.
While campaigning in Kumi Town yesterday, Mr Museveni told the National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders from Kumi, Serere, Bukedea and Ngora Districts that he is not looking for a sixth term for purposes of making it his job.
“NRM came to deal with historical problems of Uganda and Africa. We are not job seekers. They think that I am here because I am looking for a job. They are lying themselves,” Mr Museveni said.
Mr Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, said he did not leave his job as a researcher in the President’s Office in 1971 to seek a bigger job as President but to solve Uganda’s post-independence problems.
“This is all because they don’t bother to get the facts. In 1971, I was a research officer in the President’s Office. It was a good job that time but when Iddi Amin took power on January 25, I left together with others on January 27 to fight him after we had had our group meeting. We abandoned positions to fight. We are not after positions, we are after a mission,” he said.
The head of state who has been preaching against sectarian politics said: “Sectarianism is what happened in Sudan. They would say Arabs are not Africans and we tried to tell them that is not good. They were calling Sudan an Arab country. I told Bashir, please why cannot you keep your Islamism in the mosque? Why do you want to bring it in office? In the office there are people who are not Muslims,” Mr Museveni said.
Bashir in power for 30 years was overthrown in a coup and imprisoned following protests in 2019.
Calls for ideology
Mr Museveni urged people of Teso not to vote Amuriat based on ethnicity but interrogate his agenda.
“I hear people talking about Amuriat, that he is a son of the soil. This is politics we left long ago. It is not biology which we are talking about. We are talking about ideology. What does he say that he can do? All these people in the Opposition that include Besigye, (David) Pulkol…When you look at the track record of those groups, they are not the type who can manage this NRM mission,” Museveni said.
As was the case in Soroti at the weekend, the elected leaders of Kumi, Bukedea, Serere and Ngora, Districts listed demands they want Mr Museveni to address.
In the memorandum presented by Ms Jacquiline Amongin, the Ngora District Woman MP, they asked Mr Museveni to appoint a Prime Minister and other key ministers from Teso.
From Teso, top appointments include Internal Affairs Minister Gen Jeje Odongo, State Ministers; Musa Ecweru (Disaster Preparedness); Peter Ogwang (ICT), Ms Hellen Adoa (Fisheries) and Ms Jane Francis Akiror (Teso Affairs).
Other top appointees are Mr Patrick Ochailap, the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, Mr Michael Atinge-Ego, the Deputy Governor of Bank of Uganda, Lt Gen Peter Elwelu, the Commander of Land Forces, Col Charles Oluka, a new Director General of Internal Security Organisation (ISO) and Dr Kenneth Omona, the Principal Private Secretary (PPS) to the President.
Mr Museveni said all the demands will be addressed including payment of the remaining 25,000 war veterans across the country.
Speaking to Daily Monitor shortly after the President’s meeting, Mr Peter Opit, the Serere chairperson, said there are several pledges that the President has not delivered since 2016 elections.
Mr Opit said the President has not delivered two school buses in Serere and another for Soroti Secondary School.
The President will today be in Bugisu Sub-region for three days before heading to Sebei Sub-region.
