Museveni to rivals: I can’t make sense of what you say

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President Yoweri Museveni says he cannot make sense of what his rival candidates say on the campaign trail.

This was during an interaction with journalists from the Kigezi region at Irenga State Lodge on November 26, 2025.

“When I see these people, that they are also presidential candidates. You see what somebody is saying, and you get confused. (And you say), ‘Now this (candidate)!’ We are lucky they are not the President. If they were the President, the country would be no more,” he said in Runyankole.

He stated that he had not heard of the seven candidates talking about looking for a market abroad for Uganda’s produce. 

Museveni asked if anyone thinks the internal market of Uganda is enough, why would the Chinese, who have a population of 1.4 billion people, be looking for markets abroad?

“You, the Presidential candidate, Your Excellency, why are you not telling us about the market? No! Museveni agyende, Museveni agyende (Museveni should go). That is the [campaign] programme,” the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party Presidential candidate said.

He noted that leaving power is not a problem.

“Okay, Museveni leaving [power] is not the issue because he has where to go. His cows are waiting for him, but you, Sir, what will you help us with? No one is talking about the market. You see the country is in danger,” he warned.

The incumbent president has been saying it is important that the NRM supporters understand and tell all and sundry that in order to ensure prosperity for their people, they need, not only a united Uganda to give market to their wealth creators, but also a united East Africa and Africa.

“All Africans need to know the importance of a United African market. Why is the USA prosperous and the nearby Latin America in misery, yet Latin America has got more natural resources than the USA? My view is that the main cause may be the fragmented market in Latin America,” he said.

Museveni wondered how a businessperson can easily succeed in that fragmented market situation where the continent is rich in the number of Presidents and natural resources but poor in everything else.

Museveni is being challenged by seven candidates: Robert Kyagulanyi of the National Unity Platform, Joseph Kasibante of the National Peasants Party, Robert Mabirizi of the Conservative Party, and Mugisha Muntu of the Alliance for National Transformation.

Others are; Nandala Mafabi of the Forum for Democratic Change, Mubarak Munyagwa of the Common Man’s Party, and Frank Kabinga of the Revolutionary People’s Party.