By Watuwa Timbiti

Uganda will become a first world country in the next 50 years if it develops and implements a shared national ideology, the Luwero Triangle state minister, Rose Namayanja, has said.

“In some parts of Uganda, ideology has been reduced to politics. A national ideology should supersede politics. It calls for the participation of every citizen,” she said.

She was on Friday addressing resident district commissioners (RDC), LC5 chairpersons, chief administrative officers (CAO) and other leaders from Busoga during a workshop in Iganga town.

She said the 2040 Vision to transform Uganda from a peasant to a modern society with every family earning at least sh20m annually will be central in the achievement of the first-world dream.

Namayanja said the only lacuna in achieving the vision was making the people to have the rightful mind-set.

The workshop, organized by the department of national guidance, aimed at building the capacity of leaders on the national guidance policy issues.

“If sports can bring us together, why don’t we also consider developing other activities that draw us together?”she asked.

The assistant commissioner for national guidance, Jonah Bakalikwira, observed that with a national ideology in place, the country would, using a bottomup approach, form a cohesive, peaceful and productive society for sustainable development.

According to Muhammed Mayanja, the head of the RDC’s desk in the Office of the President, it is the RDCs, CAOs, LC5s and councils that are holding the mantle of leadership in Uganda.

“So, you have the challenge of supporting the President in achieving the first-world prophecy since you directly serve the people,” he advised.

“This is the opportunity to be counted by those who will come after us. Let’s work towards the first-world if we want to be remembered,” Mayanja added.

With a common agenda, Paul Odauk, the deputy head of the National Patriotism Secretariat, argued that Ugandans would in future transcend problems such as ethnicity.

“Ethnicity will not be there. People will instead have class conflicts as it is in the developed nations,” he said.