STATE LODGE, NAKASERO: President Yoweri Museveni has described the former speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga as smart and flexible, saying when he proposed to her that they needed to reorganize, she agreed.
“I want to congratulate my young sister. This time when I made these proposals, because she was already Speaker of Parliament which is a high post… although I did not give her all the reasons, I told her I had strong reasons why I want us to reorganize and proposed this. She agreed. I want to congratulate her. Blessed are the humble for the kingdom of heaven is theirs (Mathew Chapter 5). People who are smart…that is what they do. They are flexible. Positions are not the important thing, the important thing is the mission,” the President said.
The President was on Thursday speaking shortly after the swearing in ceremony of Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga as the 1st Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for East African Community Affairs at State Lodge Nakasero. Kadaga was accompanied by her mother Eva Kadaga, son Timothy Kadaga and daughter Pamela Kaudha.
“I want to congratulate my young sister Rebecca on being appointed and swearing in as Deputy Prime Minister. I want to thank her particularly first of all, for being one of the people who rallied to the NRM quite early when it had come to government. She started in the LC system in the village committees until she came to NRC. She has been in Parliament almost continuously since that time. She become Deputy speaker for a number of years until we elected her as speaker for last ten years,” he said, adding that on the party side, Kadaga is the first Deputy Chairperson after President Museveni and Hajji Kigongo. She is also a member of CEC.
“She is somebody who has been contributing for along time. This time I want to thank her for her modesty and humility,” he said.
The President castigated people who he said go for the peripheral and ignore crucial issues.
“There is a statement which is normally read in the Church of Uganda Prayer book. They left undone what they ought to have done, they did that they ought not to have done and there is no truth in them. This is what has caused problems for Africans. They leave crucial things and go for peripheral,” he said.
President Museveni said as long as their mission is being pushed, they are happy.
“When I attended the 1st Heads of government meeting in the late 1980’s in Canada, one of the long time serving Minister of the Commonwealth was still in leadership. Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore. Still as Prime Minister, I sat with him as Head of Government. Next thing I heard, that because he was grooming young people to come and take over, one of the young people had become the Prime Minister and he had become Senior Minister. He wanted to seat in Government and see how young people are doing and he remained like that until he died and Singapore went on.
This is the spirit that I want our people to have. To know that its not the positions, it’s the mission. As long as mission being pushed we are happy. Lee Kuan Yew must have died a happy man because whatever he was doing, was continued by the young people. I want to congratulate and thank Rebecca on this,” he said.
The ceremony was attended by the Vice President Rt. Maj. Jesca Alupo and the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.
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