President Yoweri Museveni has warned external countries to stop interfering in the affairs of Uganda.

During his Address on National State of Affairs today evening at State House, the president warned external players refrain from interfering in the affairs of other countries.

“Nobody will bring us down, no matter how much they try, we are in the process of tightening the weak points. If there is any problem in Uganda, I will surely handle it better than any external forces,” the president warned. Museveni added that Uganda does not need the UN to defend it, because it has a very capable army in-spite of a small budget.

“It is important that external players refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. Interfering in the internal affairs of other countries is morally and practically wrong. Morally wrong because the question is: “What superior intelligence do you have to think that you can understand the problem in my house better that we the occupants? If there is a problem in our house, we the occupants will solve it. Keep out. It is also practically wrong because outsiders cannot have enough information about a foreign situation. They are most likely to make mistakes. If there is any problem in Uganda, I, surely, will handle it better than the outsider.”

“Uganda is not a failed state.  It has powerful institutions: the armed forces, the LC structures, the Leagues, the District Parliaments (Councils – 123 of them), the National Parliament, the Ministries etc., etc.  These have handled the issues of Uganda from a very low base to where it is now,” he cautioned.

He further cautioned that because of this outside interference, any youth have been misled into engaging in violent acts because they are promissed some party by these external forces through NGOs.

“We want to rescue our youth from those indisciplined politicians who give them money to Commit arson, rig elections and beat women, our youth don’t want to do these things but because they are promised money they give in. They are given 100,000 to burn tyres on the road to give the impression that there is instability, they were even promised to be given 300,0000 to burn petrol stations but we blocked all those plans,” the president warned.

The president warned that not that Uganda has finally reached the takeoff stage, his government is going to address these six areas for Uganda to be safe.

First, the president said that he is going to fight all corrupt government officials. The president put two hotlines on which Ugandans can call to report any acts of corruption from a government official. The numbers are 0800 100770, which he says belongs directly to his office and 0772 634743 which beongs to Maj. Edith Nakalema.

The president also said that he has ordered for the deployment of 24,000 Local Defence Units (LDUs) officers for the Kampala Wakiso area to help police in fighting crime as they wait fot the technical methods of fighting crime to be implemented.

“There are six areas of weakness that we must address. The first is corruption by Government officials who take bribes. These are easy to uproot. Just get information on them and pass it on to the toll-free number 0800-100770 belonging to my office. This is in addition to a unit I announced during the June 2018 State of the Nation address. You will see what we shall do with them. You heard what I did with the officials in the Ministry of Finance, Immigration and Uganda Revenue Authority. This is a problem that persists because the crooks are not exposed.

Secondly, the indisciplined Opposition politicians that are accused of terrorism against the population, conspiracy to commit arson or treason should be handled firmly by all concerned – the Police, the Prosecution and the Courts. We should not allow these wrong doers to intimidate our people. Telling lies to foreigners will not help them because the facts are on the ground.

Thirdly, rescuing our youth from those indisciplined politicians. The allegations go that foreign money through NGOs, is given to some of our youth to burn tyres on the roads, to throw stones, to commit arson, to rig elections and to beat women. Sometimes, our youth go into these criminal projects because they want money. They do not enjoy doing this. I have this information on good authority. Many of the young people have some education or even good education but they have no jobs, no property and no capital. I addressed this issue during my State of the Nation address in June, 2018.

The effort that we have already deployed of empowering the youth to take part in producing products for import-substitution and export promotion will be expanded to include these youth. These youth are not a problem but an asset. The purchasing power of Uganda is growing. If our youth are helped to produce goods, the Ugandans will buy them; or they will be bought in the region; or, if the quality is assured, those goods will go to external markets.

The NRM MPs, working with me, will ensure that funds are available to expand what we have already started with the Kampala Girl Child, in Najeera, in Rukungiri, in Luwero, etc. All these products the traders are importing from Dubai, China etc. can be made here by our youth. Products like shoes, sweaters, leather bags, garments, processed foods such as maize flour (akahuunga), animal feeds, furniture, carpets, scholastic materials etc., etc. All they need is support and training. How many unemployed graduates do we have? Can’t these run a maize milling operation if they are helped? The ones we supported in Nansana are doing very well. How about leather tanning? How about shoe-making? How about knitting? How about weaving? The more educated ones are engaged in making the Kiira and Kayoola, the solar electric cars and mini-buses, as well as food processing using the Government provided Innovation Fund.

Fourthly, the urban crime that saw the death of the Sheikhs, of Joan Kagezi, Kiggundu, Kawesi, Magara, Abiriga had scared people. Some of the criminals in these murders have been identified, arrested and they are in Courts. We have built up capacity to defeat rural terrorism decisively and rapidly. This is because in the bush, if the enemy is walking through the grass and leaves a track (ekisinde, ekirari), you can easily trace him; in the mountain, he has to pass through certain choke points (obufuunda) where you can block and make it impossible for the terrorists to move. There are also other technical means that help to track the enemies in the rural areas. The criminals in the urban areas are not strong at all. Their main weapon is concealment. In the rural areas, we acquired all the means to nullify the concealment of the terrorists.

In the towns where the criminal does not create a physical kisinde, there are only three methods of shattering the terrorist concealment. First method is prior intelligence when you know who is planning a crime, you gather enough evidence, apprehend the criminal at the conspiratorial stage and bring him to the Courts of Law. It is clear that the intelligence has been weak in the cases where the murders have been committed, like in the cases of Kagezi and the others. This weak area is being strengthened. The second method is to rely on the human beings at the scene of the crime that was being committed – the eye witnesses and the other clues that the criminal may be leaving behind. The third method is to deploy more technical means in detecting and witnessing possible crimes. By the last, we mean cameras, drones and other means. All those areas are being strengthened in the towns as they were in the countryside. When we say strengthening, we mean strengthening. The proof of this is the fact that we have been having huge pre-announced events like the Commonwealth Meeting in 2007, the visit of the Pope twice, the annual Namugongo Martyrs Day when 3 million people gather there etc., without even a single incident of terrorism. It is only when we are relaxed that you get those gaps that the criminals and terrorists use. Another source of terrorist infiltration is, of course, Congo where the terrorists are preserved by the UN, just next to our border. Like we defeated rural terrorism from Congo without anybody’s support, we shall also defeat the residual urban crime and terrorism whatever the source.

Fifthly, is to bring discipline and balance in the media (TVs, radios, newspapers and social-media). These, most of the time, report in a tendecious and mendacious manner. The Government and the NRM have been asleep when it comes to media management. This is, partly, the old practice of the NRA. We never propagandized but fought and the victories spoke for themselves. Even when we captured Kampala, very few people outside Uganda believed we had that capacity. Even today, it is still largely true that doing does more publicity than just talking. The massive wins by the NRM in the recent LC1 and Women Council elections in spite of the massive lying by the biased press and media, confirms this. Even the win of President Trump in the USA in 2016 in spite of the papers there and the CNNs de-campaigning him, picking faults etc., points to the fact that media lying cannot, in some cases, obscure reality. To shout on social-media, NBS TV, NTV, Okot Ogong’s radio in Lira or even CNN that the NRM is useless to the citizens of Atanga, Acholibur etc. or the ones of Atiak, Pabbo and Bibia or the ones of Katakwi and Moroto when they are seeing brand new tarmac roads in their area, will discredit the media rather than the Government. That is why the people ignored the media and voted massively for the NRM in the LC1s, Women Council elections and in all the by-elections and elections since 2016 except for Kyadondo, Jinja East, Rukungiri and Bugiri Municipality. These are just four out of a total of 35 Parliamentary seats and LCV elections or the by-elections since the General elections.

It is actually the killings of the Sheikhs, Kagezi, Kaweesi, Abiriga and Magara that made many Ugandans worried about security. The same was true of the beatings of the NRM women and intimidation with impunity by the Opposition that gets people in the towns worried. Firm legal action, counter-mobilization and development efforts quickly stamp out this lawlessness. That was how walk to work in 2011 and “making Uganda ungovernable in 2016” were defeated.

Nevertheless, since Uganda today, given what we have already put on the ground as the foundation, being a very rich country in the first place, is on a rapid growth and transformation trajectory, we should not allow the diversion of any of our people by the tendecious and mendacious media – local or foreign. Organizationally and technically, we are going to deploy means to handle this sabotage. The fight between an Opposition MP and the Police may be interesting and should be reported. How, then, about the 600 megawatts Karuma hydro-power station for a country which had only 60 megawatts in 1986? Why don’t you report that also so that we know that you are a media person who is professional and informative? If you do not and instead you do only report the fight between the MP and Police, but you turn it into a campaign (kuyimbilila) hour after hour, day after day, don’t you lose your credibility as a source of information for the public and the world? Isn’t society, who desire and are entitled to develop their businesses, their areas, their country, justified in looking for ways of how to resist your unfairness? Young people have even been telling me that what matters is not facts but that it is perception. In otherwords, what matters is not what happens but what people perceive to have happened? Is it good for the world to only appreciate appearance rather than facts? Are you not deluding yourself when you believe like that

Sixth and, finally, the NRM must stand firmly and unequivocally with the Bibanja holders in Buganda, Ankole, Tooro and Bunyoro where that evil system had been introduced by the British. Since the NRM never wants to be unfair to anybody – Bibanja owner or landlord, in the 1995 Constitution we, more or less, went back to the British position of 1928: ownership for the landlord retained; no eviction for the bibanja owners except for the refusal to pay the nominal rent; and only nominal rent to be paid and never commercial rent. We also established the Land Fund which could be expanded later to enable the bibanja owners to pay off the landlords so that the latter also do commercial agriculture in part of the land that is free or go to industry, services or ICT, the other sectors of the economy.

This was a deliberate, win-win compromise so as to keep our people united. After all, both the landlords and the Bibanja owners were members of the NRM. Therefore, the bibanja owners be assured that the NRM and myself, as your leader in the resistance, will not abandon you. If some of the landlords do not want a win-win solution, which is the NRM way, we shall stand with you. I thank Justice Bamugemereire for moving in some of the areas and exposing the criminality of the landlords.

The president also wondered why Ugandans want to go to outside countries yet Uganda is better than most of the countries they travel to.
“What are you looking for outside uganda? I don’t see anything good outside Uganda. The air conditioning there is very terrible so i don’t know what you are looking for!”

“Indeed, recently, my daughter, Kokundeka Museveni Rwabwoogo, a farmer and preacher of the gospel, was surprised to go to Gulu and find a lot of rain while it had been very dry in the Rwakitura area where she had come from. I told her that that is the Uganda God gave us but “you, the Dot.Com group”, do not bother to understand and appreciate – some of you flying to Dubai etc. I never go anywhere unless I am forced by the business of the Country. Uganda is simply too good,” he said.