The President cautioned NRM party members on their behaviour. Below is his full speech at the NRM special organs conference in Namboole on Tuesday

I congratulate you on your recent elections and thank you for the good work you have done for the Movement over the years. It is time we reminded ourselves about the meaning of politics. What is politics? Politics, in my view, is the science of the management of society. Managing society for what purpose and to what end?

Managing society in such a way that the people and their property are secure, develop and thrive. Therefore, politics is about ways of how to secure people, secure their property and build a prosperous future for a given country, district, constituency, etc.

It is a debate about the how of ensuring security and developing a given area. It is not about jobs for this one or that one. In any case, politics should not be a job. We should all have our respective occupations — farmers, industrialists, traders, service-providers, public servants.

We should only come to politics because there are causes worthy of pushing and you think that you are the one best suited to push them; not because you are looking for a job. These causes should be in the interests of the people — the broadest possible sections of the people.

We should work for the legitimate interests of the people. Historically, that is how the NRM came about. Right from 1965, when some of us were still students, we became convinced that sectarianism of tribe and religion was wrong and it had to be fought. Later on, we identified chauvinism against women, youth and people with disabilities (PWDs) as a wrong orientation.

We had to combat it. We did not care about who you were, but we cared about what you did, thought and said. Recently, I reminded the Anglican Bishops who met here about the parable of the Good Samaritan in the Gospel of St. Luke: 10:30, where it says:

“… And who is my neighbour? In reply Jesus said: A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away and left him half-dead.

The priest happened to be going down the same road and, when he saw the man he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was and when he saw him he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the inn-keeper. ‘Look after him’, he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?...”

You see here that what was important, was the what and not the who. The NRM has grown and thrived over the last 45 years, many trials and tribulations notwithstanding, because of this ideological cleanliness — on account of the sublimation of our aims. Our aims were good, desirable, historically necessary, legitimate and for the interests of the people. If you, the younger generations, introduce aims that do not maintain this level of altruism and cleanliness, you will derail your Movement which has served you so well.

What were the aims of the Movement? Right from the beginning, and over the last 45 years, our strategic aims have been the following: non-sectarianism, patriotism, nationalism, working for socio-economic transformation of our society and Pan-Africanism (working for the integration of East Africa and Africa so as to create bigger markets and security blocs).

Along the way we had to deal with transitional issues like insecurity of person and property, disenfranchisement on account of depriving our people of the right to vote, etc. We were able to deal with these issues successfully because of the very principles I outlined above.

We were able to build a national army that has brought peace to Uganda and to a large part of our region, because we hold sectarianism in contempt. We are always looking for good, disciplined, patriotic soldiers — not for people from this tribe or this religion or women or men. That is why we succeeded. The successes you see thus far are because of this ideology. Those who used a different ideology failed.

I would, therefore, like to use this opportunity to reiterate our time-tested position. Careerism is not a good idea in politics. You should not be in politics because you are just looking for a job. You should be in politics because you are working for a legitimate cause.

You should, therefore, have nothing but feelings of comradeship towards those who share belief in the principles you believe in — in this case the Movement principles crystallised and encapsulated over the years. Anybody who creates antagonisms among our people unnecessarily is an enemy. There should be a feeling of comradeship, not enmity.

When it comes to elections, it should be like electing a Sabakristo — the head of the laity in the Christian Church. The feeling should be: we are all Christians. Who among us should be selected to do this task?

In this case, the person must be: morally upright; a staunch Christian; loyal to the leaders of the church; willing to execute the duties of the church; able to mix with all the people of other denominations without compromising the doctrines of the Christian Church; and of a reasonable education level.

As with the Sabakristo in the church, in our party choices, we should elect a person because he has the requisite qualities, probably because he or she has more time and because of their devotion to party ideals.

There should be no hostility at all. There should be no use of money to win support for oneself by bribing individuals with meaningless sums of sh500, sh10,000 etc. What are these miserable sums once every five years worth? Instead, it should be programmes to get people out of poverty through common production and the right packaging of commercial enterprises that should be emphasised.

The problem of poverty in rural areas is caused by three factors: subsistence farming as opposed to commercial farming; diversification of enterprises at the homestead level so that you have a package of enterprises that synergise each other; and learning to use intensive farming as opposed to extensive farming for the majority of our homesteads that have small plots of land. These three points will change the rural landscape in terms of production. Rural families should be helped by all of you to see this.

Forming factions among rural families so as to use them as bases for personal support for politicians is a betrayal. It is important to enlighten all rural households about their own interests. I have been telling you about Ugandan proverbs: “Kawelimidde akila mbegelako,” “Akange kakila akaiffe; Rwamukuru waawe tekut’ ahamugongo; Gwok pe lelo i cak iyi awotere.” All these Ugandan proverbs have the same meaning as the English one which says that an “Englishman’s home is his castle.”

While the king has his palace, for the ordinary Englishman, his castle is his home. That should be the emphasis. We, as leaders, should also engage in commercial production through agriculture so that we do not have to depend on politics for a living. Once we all get involved in production, there will be massive quantities of crops such as has been the case with maize recently. This will create a new but good challenge — a lot of crops. This will call for processing these crops and looking for markets for them. That is why NRM long ago advocated for Pan-Africanism.

The African market will absorb what we produce. The Ministry of Finance has got instructions to intensify processing – maize mills, milk coolers, rice-hurlers, juice and oil extractors, etc., at every sub-county on top of the big factories we are attracting. The way we handled milk some years ago should be instructive.

By 1989, Uganda was importing powdered milk from Denmark. I introduced a campaign to adopt Friesian cattle for medium and small-scale farmers. Production of milk jumped from 200 million litres a year to 1.3 billion litres a year.

The internal market was saturated. Prices went down. Through persistent efforts, we, eventually, attracted an Indian processor, SAMEER, who is now converting our milk into powder. This powdered milk is now being exported all over the world. Prices have started going up. This is what we are going to do for all the other products — maize, rice, bananas, fruits, cotton, etc.

This need for markets exposes those who talk of tribes and religion in politics as the greatest enemies of our future. As they were our enemies in the past that caused our colonisation, they can easily endanger our future. We must resolutely reject their position.

In order to create employment for everybody, we cannot confine ourselves to only agriculture. Services, factories as well as artisanship generate even more jobs than agriculture in the long run.

Last week, I opened a new Roofings Factory in Namanve, making steel products. When all phases of their production are finished, using about 70 acres of land, the factory will employ 2,000 workers and the company will earn $300m per annum. This is about the same as we earn from all the coffee exports in one year.

This is the way for the future. Apart from the big factories like Roofings and services (e.g. hotels, transport, banks, etc), there is the large area of artisanship — making furniture, handlooms for textiles, metal work, etc. As I told the youths at Makerere recently, there are five job-clusters that can provide employment: modern agriculture; services (hotels, transport, banking, insurance, professional services, etc.); industries; self-employment in any of the clusters, including artisanship; and the public service. The leadership of NRM should explain this to all Ugandans, especially the parents and the youth. Each youth should ask himself or herself: “In which cluster of activities can I find an opportunity either as an employer or as an employee?” It is as simple as that. Then, you should do all it takes to prepare yourself to operate in the cluster of sectors you have identified.

Since our economy has been improving, we are making available considerable funds to help our people start in any of these areas. If you take one constituency of Uganda, you will find that each year, NAADS alone injects in Uganda shillings 500 million, if there are five sub-counties in that electoral area. This is a lot of money. Apart from the six homesteads per parish we used as models for the last year, we can use this money in different ways to reach more homesteads.

I have held the sh120b for this financial year back, so that we see how we can optimally use it. I have been told that some homesteads do not have even hoes. If this is so, why have many leaders not identified this need so that we use these huge sums of money to satisfy such elementary needs?

I am talking of moneys for NAADS, NUSAF, PRDP, NUREP, Luwero-Rwenzori, PMA, Restocking, etc. This means that some of the leaders are not doing enough social research in their areas. If the leaders (MPs, chairmen, councillors, party leaders) monitor the use of these huge sums, there will be no need for any serious exertion on their part even when it comes to elections. Things will be smooth. Use government money to serve the people instead of getting into debts trying to use your personal money.

The recent NRM primaries have shown that the NRM is a great Party. About 8.8 million Ugandans are registered as NRM voters. It was a pity that the NRM electoral commission did not organise efficiently. What was it? Was it inefficiency? Is the task big and new? They are still busy with the primaries. I have not had time to do a post-mortem. It will be done and rectifications will be made.

The bad practices I have been informed about such as bribing, sectarianism, rigging are criminal offences even when they are done within a Political Party. One can be arrested and go to jail for any one of them apart from causing the cancellation of electoral results.

Altering results for instance, is forgery. One can go to jail for that. Burning an office constitutes an offence of arson. You can go to jail for it. Apart from the ideological disorientation involved, there is the danger of imprisonment when you engage in these illegal activities. Yet they are absolutely unnecessary if one remembers what I said at the beginning. Politics is medicine for socio-economic problems of a community and it is not about individual interests of leaders. As far as the Ugandan voters are concerned, remember the story of Jacob and Esau in the Book of Genesis 25:30-4:

“… Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished. He said to Jacob: “Quick, let me have some of that red stew! I am famished!”… Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.” “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” But Jacob said, “Swear to me first.” So he swore an oath to him, selling his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and some lentil stew. He ate and drank, and then got up and left. So Esau despised his birthright.”

Similarly, you should not sell your birthright for money. You can generate more money out of agriculture, services, etc., incomparably much more, than dishonouring yourself by accepting a bribe from desperate and dishonest politicians.

At the end of this week I will say more about the economy to the National Conference. I congratulate you and thank you for the support you have always accorded NRM.

His Excellency the President of the Republic of Uganda