By Steven Candia

THE US ambassador, Steven Browning, yesterday stressed the need for the respect of the rule of law, a tenet for democracy. Delivering a speech on the eve of the American Independence, which falls on July 4, Browning said nations should build and respect institutions.

Borrowing from George Washington’s experience, he said America’s first president was reluctant to serve in public office but was compelled to do so because institutions had to be built.
Washington, he pointed out, declined to run for a third term despite coming under enormous pressure.

“At the end of his second term, he was begged by many in the country to run for the third term but he refused, arguing that by doing so the new country risked losing what it had fought so hard for,” he said at the residence in Kampala.
At the same time Browning hailed Ugandans on either side of the political divide for working towards building the nation.

Having traversed the country from East to West and North to South, the ambassador said he was pleased with what he saw––“Ugandans who are in the process of developing and building Uganda.”