'I have been let down by so many people' — Museveni
President Museveni said that in the last 65 years, he had had no debt with anybody and had never let anybody down. Instead, he said he had been let down and tricked by many people.
President Yoweri Museveni during an interaction with journalists Morulinga State Lodge in Napak district. (PPU)
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President Yoweri Museveni says he has been let down by so many people in the last 65 years.
He said this on Wednesday (October 29) while interacting with journalists from the Karamoja sub-region during a live radio and TV talk-show at Morulinga State Lodge in Napak district.
The show was moderated by Vision Group journalist Olandason Wanyama, who is based in Moroto district.
Museveni, who had just wrapped up his campaign rallies in Karamoja, first reflected on his political journey, tracing the roots of his National Resistance Movement (NRM) party’s ideology back to 1965.
“In the last 65 years, I have had no debt with anybody. I have never let anybody down. Instead, I have been let down by so many people. They let me down, they trick me…okay,” the 81-year-old President, who has led Uganda uninterrupted since seizing power in January 1986, said.
“If you don’t go too far, I leave you to God to deal with you. If you go too far, then I deal with you myself,” he said.
Sectarian opposition endears NRM to the masses
Asked why he has been pulling huge crowds at his rallies in Karamoja and why his party won overwhelming support in the region in the last general election, Museveni said it is because they oppose wrong and support right.
“We say what we mean and we mean what we say… People thought that we were just politicians, but I think they are discovering now who we are,” he said.
Museveni emphasised the NRM ideology of opposing sectarianism of religion and tribe and marginalising women and children.
He stated that they love all Ugandans equally, irrespective of tribe, religion or gender, and because of that, they have been able to build a national party and national institutions such as the army and the Police.
He and his guerrilla force he was commanding, the National Resistance Army, seized power after a five-year bush war.
Museveni took power against the background of a decade of brutality of Idi Amin’s regime, and has been putting his fate in the hands of his party and in the hands of the people.
Analysts say he remains a central figure in Uganda’s politics, and his strongest card is stability.
For nearly four decades, Museveni has kept the country largely peaceful compared to the turbulent years of coups and insurgencies that defined Uganda’s past.