Let’s cherish the President’s values if we support him The NRM is built on 4 principles; nationalism, pan Africanism, democracy and socio-economic transformation. His Excellency The President has over time added his own beliefs onto the NRM agenda and these include; the prosperity for all through the 4 acre model, ideological orientation among others. The President has consistently talked about these and they have born results in some areas. If for example, we take an example of ideological awakening in the areas of North Ankole (currently Kiruhura District), the President started a campaign of transforming the people in these areas from nomadic pastoralism into settled farmers in the late 1960’s. He then encouraged the people of North Ankole to settle in one place, fence their land, acquire land titles, and engage in other activities like cultivation. He had succeeded in this; however, this campaign was disrupted when he joined the University of Dar el Salaam and later engaged in liberation struggles of Uganda in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. This struggle was revived as soon as NRA took over in 1986. He then convinced the people of North Ankole who had been traditional cattle keepers to embrace modern farming techniques. He challenged them to dispose off their traditional cattle breeds for exotic ones like fresian etc. The people of North Ankole had been the most traditional and conservative in whole of greater Ankole. Disposing off their traditional breeds of cattle was equivalent to losing their identity, their culture and their values. It is therefore very wrong for example to visit a village where a cabinet minister comes from and he is the only rich person there. Such a minister is neither a servant of his master, President Museveni nor a supporter of his. If he/she were his supporter or servant, they would have emulated him. This is the reason why our people are still walloping in poverty. This is the reason why the President has had to micromanage the country especially as far as poverty alleviation is concerned. All our leaders must take what the President has done in North Ankole as a case study in order to transform their communities. Even those in cabinet or out of cabinet seeking to challenge President Museveni in 2016 must pass this test. They must have contributed to the transformation of their communities. This brings me to my major area of concern today. In February this year, my friend Hon. Evelyne Anite (Youth MP, Northern) during an NRM retreat at Kyankwanzi moved a motion endorsing His Excellency the President as the sole presidential candidate for NRM in 2016. Of course, this is very good for building party unity and cohesion. But my friends Hon. Anite and her co-architect of this motion, Hon. Ogwang Peter (Youth MP, Eastern) have failed to learn and share the President’s vision, not to even cherish his values. They instead want to own the words “sole candidate” as if it is a business brand which they have secured a copy right for instead of explaining to Ugandans the benefits of President Museveni’s NRM sole candidacy. They have even failed to embrace the four pillars of the movement especially nationalism to say the least. To take you back, the two Honourables have played tribal cards for quite some time. During their campaigns in Jinja in 2011, the two purely played tribal cards while campaigning for their colleague, Hon. Monica Amoding (National Female Youth MP). Thank God, Hon. Amoding has always exhibited leadership. She has never been sectarian in execution of her duties. While the two mobilised their voters in sectarian groupings to vote against Amoding’s opponent who was a Munyankore. I don’t think President Museveni has ever condoned such. He has always preached nationalism. As if that was not enough, during the recent NRM youth meetings at State House, Entebbe, the two Honourables attempted to block two members of the delegation from attending the meeting. Their argument was that the two members were Banyankore from the same district. This was pure sectarianism. The two youth leaders had been cleared by the authorities at State House. The two Honourables also got clarification that whereas one of the two delegates was from Western Uganda, another was from Central. Even the recent subversive activities in the Rwenzori region that have led to loss of lives manifest that our leaders have failed to cherish the values of NRM especially nationalism. It is very ideologically wrong for Ugandans to kill themselves on tribal basis bearing in mind that we are a republic. I therefore urge my colleagues especially the youth to embrace the President’s vision if they genuinely support him. Duncan Abigaba, is a member of the NRM Youth League.
Posted on: Sat, 19 Jul 2014 13:52:48 +0000
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