Museveni urges opposition to be constructive
May 13, 2006
President Yoweri Museveni yesterday took oath as president to commence his third five-year term and waved an olive branch to the opposition, signalling his willingness to respect divergent views.
By Henry Mukasa and Felix Osike
President Yoweri Museveni yesterday took oath as president to commence his third five-year term and waved an olive branch to the opposition, signalling his willingness to respect divergent views.
Museveni, a critic of pluralism until last June when he campaigned for its return, invited the opposition to be constructive in criticism.
“Now that Uganda is a fully-fledged multi-party democracy, I encourage the opposition political parties to play a constructive role,†Museveni, who won by 59.4% Uganda’s first multiparty elections in 25 years, said in his inaugural speech. Museveni has been in power since 1986.
“Political actors need to be political, economic, social, and moral ‘doctors’ of a society. In order to be a useful doctor and treat sicknesses, you must, first and foremost, diagnose the sicknesses and then prescribe the correct medicine. Political parties to be useful in Africa need to expend more effort in analysis not propaganda and obscurantism,†he added.
Museveni was basking in victory and buoyed by the presence of 10 heads of state and government as well as several dignitaries, who all sandwiched him.
Ends
President Yoweri Museveni yesterday took oath as president to commence his third five-year term and waved an olive branch to the opposition, signalling his willingness to respect divergent views.
Museveni, a critic of pluralism until last June when he campaigned for its return, invited the opposition to be constructive in criticism.
“Now that Uganda is a fully-fledged multi-party democracy, I encourage the opposition political parties to play a constructive role,†Museveni, who won by 59.4% Uganda’s first multiparty elections in 25 years, said in his inaugural speech. Museveni has been in power since 1986.
“Political actors need to be political, economic, social, and moral ‘doctors’ of a society. In order to be a useful doctor and treat sicknesses, you must, first and foremost, diagnose the sicknesses and then prescribe the correct medicine. Political parties to be useful in Africa need to expend more effort in analysis not propaganda and obscurantism,†he added.
Museveni was basking in victory and buoyed by the presence of 10 heads of state and government as well as several dignitaries, who all sandwiched him.
Ends