Excerpts from Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s speech made at the steps of the Parliament of Uganda after his successful military battle to power in 1986:
No one should think that what is happening today is a mere change of guard: it is a fundamental change in the politics of our country.
In Africa, we have seen so many changes that change, as such, is nothing short of mere turmoil. We have had one group getting rid of another one, only for it to turn out to be worse than the group it displaced. Please do not count us in that group of people: the National Resistance Movement is a clear-headed movement with clear objectives and a good membership.
Of course, we may have some bad elements amongst us — this is because we are part and parcel of Ugandan society as it is, and we may, therefore, not be able completely to guard against infiltration by wrong elements. It is, however, our deliberate policy to ensure that we uplift the quality of politics in our country. We are quite different from the previous people in power who encouraged evil instead of trying to fight it. You may not be familiar with our program, since you did not have access to it while we were in the bush so I shall outline a few of its salient points.
The first point in our program is the restoration of democracy. The people of Africa, the people of Uganda, are entitled to democratic government. It is not a favor from any government: it is the right of the people of Africa to have democratic government. The sovereign power in the land must be the population, not the government. The government should not be the master, but the servant of the people.
The second point in our program is the security of person and property. Every person in Uganda must be absolutely secure to live wherever he or she wishes. Any individual or any group of persons who threatens the security of our people must be smashed without mercy. The people of Uganda should only die from natural causes that are beyond our control, but not at the hands of fellow citizens who continue to walk the length and breadth of our land freely …
… The third point in our program is the question of the unity of our country. Past regimes have used sectarianism to divide people along religious and tribal lines … Politics is about the provision of roads, water, drugs, in hospitals and schools for children.
Take the road from here, Parliament Buildings, to Republic House. This road is so bad that if a pregnant woman travels on it, I am sure she will have a miscarriage!
… There is, in philosophy, something called obscurantism, a phenomenon where ideas are deliberately obscured so that what is false appears to be true and vice versa. We in the NRM are not interested in the politics of obscurantism: we want to get to the heart of the matter and find out what the problem is. Being a leader is like being a medical doctor. A medical doctor must diagnose his patient’s disease before he can prescribe treatment. Similarly, a political leader must diagnose correctly the ills of society …
… One of our weaknesses in Africa is a small market because we don’t have enough people to consume what we produce. Originally we had an East African market but it was messed up by the Excellencies and honorable ministers. It will be a cardinal point in our program to ensure that we encourage co-operation in economic matters, especially in transport and communication within the East African region. This will enable us to develop this area. We want our people to be able to afford shoes. The honorable Excellency who is going to the United Nations in executive jets, but has a population at home of 90 per cent walking barefoot, is nothing but a pathetic spectacle. Yet this Excellency may be busy trying to compete with Reagan and Gorbachev to show them that he, too, is an Excellency …
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