People To Decide 3rd Term, Says Museveni
May 20, 2004
PRESIDENT Yoweri (right) Museveni has said it is up to the people to decide on the issue of the presidential third term.
By Henry Mukasa
PRESIDENT Yoweri (right) Museveni has said it is up to the people to decide on the issue of the presidential third term.
After listening to five speeches, two drama songs and a prayer, all urging him to stand for re-election, Museveni said he has never associated himself with anything that is against the people’s will.
The President was in Wobulenzi town in Luweero district yesterday to thank the people for voting him into power and to launch a programme to improve their household income.
“You have been talking politics here..., the future of Uganda is in your hands. What you want to be done is what will be done,†Museveni said to their applause.
“If there are some laws that are not clear, they will be clarified so that the people’s power is felt. They can delegate some powers to a small group like Parliament, but the decisive power is with you,†he added.
There has been heated a debate over the proposed amendment of Article 105 of the Constitution that bars the President from seeking more than two terms.
There has also been opposition to the Government’s proposal to hold a referendum on the amendment.
Dressed in a short-sleeved light-blue striped shirt and navy-blue trousers, Museveni arrived in Wobulenzi at 4:05pm. He waved from the open roof of his white Cross Country Benz as he drove through the crowd.
On disembarking, he flashed the thumbs-up sign as the crowd cheered and flashed back with three fingers to signify the third term.
Hundreds of people carried dry banana leaves, the unofficial symbol for third term supporters.
Museveni, who had for an hour talked about how the peasants could improve their household income to sh20m per year, made the political comments at the close of his speech.
“The question of politics was solved by NRM. The Movement captured power from dictatorship and gave you the power,†he said.
“Bw’oba weyazise ekikomo, nannyini kyo bwakikusaba otekawo mukono (if you borrow a ring and the owner asks for it, you put forward your arm),†he said.
He meant that politicians get their mandate from the people who vote them into office, therefore the people have the power to withdraw the mandate.
Museveni said the Government had secured markets for Ugandan products in the US, EU, Japan and was seeking others in China and India.
He said fruits, coffee, honey, rice, cotton, cattle, silk worms and fish were some of the targeted products.
Different counties (zones) will grow what they are best suited for on commercial basis. He said this would ensure food and income security, with each family earning about sh20m per year.
He enumerated his achievements, among them UPE and taming of the army.
Museveni ordered Luweero resident district commissioner Geoffrey Kyomukama to follow up complaints that landlords were evicting their tenants so that they get justice.
He said the landlords were exploiting the squatters’ ignorance of the Constitution.
He said the Constitution recognises people who settled on land 12 years prior to its promulgation.
Last evening, the President addressed another rally in Semuto, Luweero district.
Ends
PRESIDENT Yoweri (right) Museveni has said it is up to the people to decide on the issue of the presidential third term.
After listening to five speeches, two drama songs and a prayer, all urging him to stand for re-election, Museveni said he has never associated himself with anything that is against the people’s will.
The President was in Wobulenzi town in Luweero district yesterday to thank the people for voting him into power and to launch a programme to improve their household income.
“You have been talking politics here..., the future of Uganda is in your hands. What you want to be done is what will be done,†Museveni said to their applause.
“If there are some laws that are not clear, they will be clarified so that the people’s power is felt. They can delegate some powers to a small group like Parliament, but the decisive power is with you,†he added.
There has been heated a debate over the proposed amendment of Article 105 of the Constitution that bars the President from seeking more than two terms.
There has also been opposition to the Government’s proposal to hold a referendum on the amendment.
Dressed in a short-sleeved light-blue striped shirt and navy-blue trousers, Museveni arrived in Wobulenzi at 4:05pm. He waved from the open roof of his white Cross Country Benz as he drove through the crowd.
On disembarking, he flashed the thumbs-up sign as the crowd cheered and flashed back with three fingers to signify the third term.
Hundreds of people carried dry banana leaves, the unofficial symbol for third term supporters.
Museveni, who had for an hour talked about how the peasants could improve their household income to sh20m per year, made the political comments at the close of his speech.
“The question of politics was solved by NRM. The Movement captured power from dictatorship and gave you the power,†he said.
“Bw’oba weyazise ekikomo, nannyini kyo bwakikusaba otekawo mukono (if you borrow a ring and the owner asks for it, you put forward your arm),†he said.
He meant that politicians get their mandate from the people who vote them into office, therefore the people have the power to withdraw the mandate.
Museveni said the Government had secured markets for Ugandan products in the US, EU, Japan and was seeking others in China and India.
He said fruits, coffee, honey, rice, cotton, cattle, silk worms and fish were some of the targeted products.
Different counties (zones) will grow what they are best suited for on commercial basis. He said this would ensure food and income security, with each family earning about sh20m per year.
He enumerated his achievements, among them UPE and taming of the army.
Museveni ordered Luweero resident district commissioner Geoffrey Kyomukama to follow up complaints that landlords were evicting their tenants so that they get justice.
He said the landlords were exploiting the squatters’ ignorance of the Constitution.
He said the Constitution recognises people who settled on land 12 years prior to its promulgation.
Last evening, the President addressed another rally in Semuto, Luweero district.
Ends