Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni has lashed out at leaders of America and European countries over wanting to lecture him about democracy yet they lack the credentials to do so.
Museveni said he is among the architects of a democratic system that was established in Uganda in the 60’s which has effectively worked.
Museveni’s remarks were in the inauguration speech he made today immediately after taking a presidential oath to lead Uganda as president for the sixth consecutive 5-year term. The ceremonies were held in the capital Kampala today following a hotly contested presidential election in January this year.
The leadership of the retired military general who has ruled Uganda for the last 35 years, has often received criticism over the ever-shrinking political space enjoyed by his opponents. Uganda’s human right’s record has also been questioned.
Museveni said from the 60’s, his political party -National Resistance Movement (NRM), has designed a most elaborate democratic structure with citizens choosing their leaders and freely participating in elections including special interest groups like women, youths, workers and the army. Museveni said he doubts whether there are many pro-people democratic structures in the world as this.
“It is Therefore quite comic and laughable to hear of some actors in the world giving us lectures about democracy. You give me lecture about democracy? what are your credentials?” Museveni queried.
He said what is needed is to expunge corruption which had creeped in Uganda’s democratic system brought in by opportunistic and money-minded political careerists who are looking for jobs but not service.
“It is laughable to try to give lectures about democracy to architects of such a system. We built this system for our people. we neither seek nor need any approbation from anybody outside Uganda except our peers in the African Union and others with whom we are linked by African brotherhood, solidarity and shared values based on mutual respect” he said.
It is not the first time Museveni is lashing out at western powers accusing them for interfering into domestic affairs of his country. In nation addresses following the 2021 elections, he also accused the opposition for having backing from “foreigners.”
President Museveni emphasized pan-Africanism as an important principle Africans must embrace for their destiny to be clearly cut out as opposed to advancing tribal and religious sentiments. He said the prosperity of African people largely depends on creating a big market for their local products through integration starting with economic and political federation of regional blocks.
Museveni said the for principles of NRM -Patriotism, Pan-Africanism, Social Economic Transformation and Democracy has served Uganda well as reflected in steady growth of the country’s economy (6.2% per annum) in the last 35 years. With the activation of the oil sector, Museveni said Uganda’s economy will hit $67BN by 2026 using the exchange method and 193BN using the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) method.
He said lack of markets for locally-made products has resulted into surplus of goods and services which has now become a challenge. To counter this, Museveni highlighted regional and continental integration for bigger markets but also emphasized standard for quality and production of competitive products.
