PRESIDENTIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT  🎙️

Live reporting by Joseph Kizza
(Scroll down the page for earlier updates)
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3:00 pm  |   Museveni ends engagement with media

And a parting shot for Mr. President to Ugandans in this festive season.

"The message to the Ugandans is what I will give you on the New Year's. You wait for it.

"I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."

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2:57 pm 

On non-tariff barriers, Museveni says: "We are continuing to discuss with these African leaders. They will see it. There is no alternative. If you want prosperity, the more that buy from you, the better."

He adds that some people have understood that the East African trade is "very crucial".

"I think it is a learning process. They will learn."
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2:55 pm 

On abductions, the President says that during the 2020 riots, "I called meetings of all security [agencies] and gave them guidelines in writing. These guidelines are already in law. So what I was doing was emphasizing and explaining".

He says no beating is necessary after arrest of accused people, adding that only interrogation does it. He says beating suspects is a "tribal management of crime".
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2:51 pm 

"The lack of money is because people are not using the resources they have," says the President.

"They are not using the land, they are not using the labour."
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2:50 pm 

On people's low purchasing power amid increased production, Museveni says: "That is an old question. It was a big problem of capitalism from the time of Adam Smith (a Scottish economist and philosopher) in 1776 - production grew, but the purchasing power (was low).

"In 1929, it caused the big capitalist crash in Western Europe (the Great Depression). That is when some of the new economies brought the idea of putting money in people's hands so what they can be able to buy."

Museveni says those economies "are different from ours...like in Uganda, so many families have land. The accurate description for our economies is underdeveloped. They have got resources which are not developed".

"Our answer here is to put more money in people's hands. It is what we are doing. When we say PDM, this is government money. It is a grant by the government to this group in the village."

Museveni adds that there is also the Emyooga at the constituency level for skills-based beneficiaries. "This is money to produce more money".
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2:48 pm 

On why Uganda's position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Museveni says: "It is because it is the correct one. We know the history very well. In private, I have talked to all these leaders - they know our stand and it is the correct one."
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2:45 pm 

Responding to questions on his US trip, the President says: "The Americans handled the meeting very well. They did not try to involve us in the diplomatic and these political issues, which would have brought differences. They just concentrated on trade and business.

"We did a lot of meetings with the USA. The Ugandans in the diaspore are doing a good job there because we have guided them and they have also seen it - that instead of just being bankubakyeyo (migrant workers), they can also use their presence there to sell Ugandan products, and they are coming up. They also have their taste of Ugandan foods, but they can also sell to the Americans. So we had very good meetings with them."
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2:43 pm  |   On the recent trip to the US, UK

Vision Group's Hellen Mukiibi asks: "During your recent engagement in the US and  UK, from the information we got, your meetings centred on health, security, trade, investment and value addition. How does the Ugandan - a common person like me - benefit from these meetings in eradication of poverty in our country? And what are the opportunities? And what lessons should abakongozi/abakongola, like you mentioned recently, learn about your visit and the opportunities?

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2:32 pm  |   'Militia in Congo should be negotiated with'

Vision Group Editor-in-Chief Barbara Kaija asks the President about eastern DR Congo: "The question remains a top security priority for the East African Community (EAC), with the regional forces deployed to pacify the region. In one of the recent resolutions, it was resolved that all the foreign militia groups should return to their countries of origin. So what happens to the M23 rebels? Are we seeing a full-blown war in eastern Congo?"

In response, Museveni says: "The groups like ADF will not come back peacefully. We shall force them - like you have seen recently. We are hitting them badly in eastern Congo. Now recently they tried to come back through Ntoroko, you saw what happened to them. The whole group was wiped out.

"For the M23, it is part of the other Congolese groups - M23, Mai Mai - there are many groups inside Congo which came up because of the vacuum of power there. We are encouraging the Congolese government to negotiate with them to bring them back peacefully to normal life. And if they refuse then we shall use force on them. But otherwise we think they should be negotiated with."

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2:27 pm 

On the high commodity prices, President Museveni responds by saying that the recent drought was partly to blame, but that they are going for irrigation as a long-term solution.

On the fuel crisis, he says there are two solutions: One of them is going the electric way. For instance, he says there is a plan to have all boda bodas swap for electric boda bodas.

"Secondly, we are talking to the Europeans, Russians about that war [Russian-Ukraine conflict]. Then the fuel will come back. I appeal to Ugandans to be patient - it is safer that way. The other one of trying to subsidize is a disastrous way. It is very dangerous"
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2:14 pm 

On the people who were evicted from wetlands in Rukungiri district and are now struggling to make ends meet, Museveni says they will think about giving the people alternative sources of income.

"The Prime Minister will follow up."
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2:11 pm 

On the reported 5,000 cases of nodding syndome in northern Uganda, the President says the last he had been briefed, it was being caused by the Black Fly.

At the time, he says "we sprayed the streams" and there were no new infections.

He instructs the Prime Minister to follow up with health ministry to find out if the reported cases are new or are older cases. If they are new cases, he says they will deal with them.

Nodding syndrome is an epileptic disorder occurring among certain rural African populations in onchocerciasis endemic regions. It is characterized by repeated head-nodding seizures, developmental retardation and growth faltering.
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2:07 pm 

More questions for Mr. President.
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2:04 pm 

On Uganda's quest to end AIDS by 2030, what will happen if the donors pull the plug?

"If the donors go away, we shall manage. Instead of building more roads, we shall look after our [people living with HIV]," says Museveni.

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1:58 pm 

On the status of the economy, the President says the Ugandan economy has managed to lumbered along through the harsh times brought about especially by the coronarivus pandemic.

And that after enduring these hard global economic times, "Uganda can withstand anything".

"The only little problem that had come about was the drought, which had affected food supply. But we are handling that with irrigation," he says, adding that yes, the economy slowed, but it is "good".
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1:53 pm 

On Facebook being blocked in Uganda, Museveni says "Facebook were arrogant", and says life has continued normally in Uganda despite the shutdown.

"I hope now Facebook now know who is in charge of Uganda. If they stop playing their games, then we shall open them up," he says.

Currently, users in Uganda have to use VPN to access Facebook. At the beginning of last year, Museveni apologized for the inconvenience, but said his Government would not tolerate arrogance from foreign actors.

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1:47 pm 

On the question raised by Sarah Kagingo about people using media outlets to divert the masses from government programmes, Museveni urges national broadcaster UBC and Vision Group platforms like Bukedde to air the programmes to educate and inform the public.

He says that with time, the audiences themselves will judge who is their friend and who is against them.

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1:43 pm 

On the question of rare minerals reported present in Busoga region, the President says the people there should not be diverted.

"We have started making electric buses and electric cars. Those electic cars need electric batteries and those electric batteries use some of those elements you are talking about - like lithium, rare earth. We shall develop them, we are already working on that. Yes, it will cater for some people but not the whole population," he says.

Museveni says the quickest solution is agriculture for the rest of the population. "In Busoga, there is enough land for many families to go into intensive agriculture."

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1:30 pm 

The President takes more questions.
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1:28 pm 

On the question of accusations of human rights violations, President Museveni says his NRM goverrnment is "against extrajudicial killings and we are against arrests without charges".

He says if there is anyone who is arrested, they must be coming from a village - a village that is led by an elected leader. "If there is anyone who violates human rights in Uganda, there is popular power (LC1s, etc) - elected people They should bring up these issues.

"The structures are there," he adds, urging the people to use them.

On accused people staying long in prison, Museveni blames it on the fewer number of the judges to handle the high number of cases.
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1:17 pm  |   'I will find out who is playing games'

On the issue of red tape in accessing government programmes funds, Museveni says the strategy is clear and they are not ready to change it.

"I will take time and visit some parishes myself, and I will call people and they will come. I will find out who is playing games. The parishes are known. If there is anyone playing games, we shall get them."
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1:12 pm 

The President says eventually, "we shall know who is right....even the courts get compromised. It is a struggle".

"We want the land to get justice and the tenant to get justice. What we need from the landlord is patience."
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1:12 pm 

Museveni blames the kavuyo (mess) in the land sector, which he says is rife in Buganda region, on the people "who do not listen to the NRM strategy" of win-win for the land owners and the tenants.

"There are people who think they are very clever. They go and use the courts, corruption, Judiciary, etc."
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1:06 pm 

"These [land] evictions are illegal," says the President.

"They can't be legal because the only thing we put in the Land Act was the grounds on which you could evict people was non-payment of the nominal rent."
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1:01 pm 

On the question of land, President Museveni points to the "original sin of mailo".

He says it was "a big mistake, where the colonialists came and took huge chunks of land that was occupied by the people, and they made the occupiers what they call the abaseenze (landlords). Over time, these landlords have been selling to new landlords, but they sell the land with the people who were there".

"It is a type of serfdom."

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12:57 pm 

The moderator of today's engagement says the President will be taking three questions at a time.

One of the questions is on the question of land evictions.

Another, by New Vision's David Lumu, is about the programmes that have been rolled out by the Government, including the Parish Development Model (PDM) that was launched early this year. He says that "some people we have talked to say they are finding it hard to access this money", with some blaming the red tape that reportedly clogs the channel to these funds. So what is the solution to this problem so that people are lifted out of poverty?

Another question is on the accusations of human rights violation by some people in Museveni's government.
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12:51 pm 

The engagement is taking place at State House Nakasero in Kampala. About 40 media outlets are being represented, we are told, and the government officials present include Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, ICT and information guidance minister Chris Baryomunsi, Uganda Media Centre executive director Ofwono Opondo, and senior presidential advisers Mary Karooro Okurut and Moses Byaruhanga.
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12:47 pm  |    Good afternoon

Hello everyone. Welcome to our live text commentary of today's end of year presidential media engagement, which is expected to be an interactive media session with President Yoweri Museveni.