During the funeral of the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth II, I watched in awe how the Britons, passionately sang “God save the King” after the demise of the long serving monarch. In his presence, King Charles III would be listening as the subjects sang with energy, passion and pride “God save the King” I think though it was a sad moment but the king felt joy within himself because that anthem is a prayer in it’s nature, a prayer of asking God to save their ruler. We were told that the Anthems immediately changed from God save the Queen to God save the King since he was going to be in charge of their great nation after the demise of the Queen. Whereas the media reported of some people who tried to protest against the royal family but the biggest number of the people of UK really loved and supported their monarch. I didn’t see people refusing to sing the new anthem in protest or even moving out of church in protest. Whereas it’s a norm for the European countries to oppose or speak against the long serving African leaders, the Queen had ruled for seven decades none stop until the almighty God called her. I think she was the longest serving head of state in the whole world but however the media reports that the UK recorded tremendous achievements during her reign both in the UK and the common wealth countries. I think it would be fair if the African leaders who have served for a long period of time are also appreciated because of what they have done not being criticized because of the period they have spent in power, in any case what is important is service to the people.
Today I confidently say that God save President Museveni! Not in the Ugandan national anthem because it’s different but in my own words as a citizen of Uganda and a patriotic citizen who is proud of Uganda’s progress. President Museveni isn’t a King like King Charles III but he is a unique leader that has led us through the tough times and good times. A great leader whose impact is felt and acknowledged in the entire horn of Africa. He has led Uganda through the frightening situations some of which would have led to the death of half of the population. During the days of Covid 19, when the world was on it’s knees, alot of things were closed and up to now the world economies are still struggling with some big companies closing down, President Museveni just like he led the twenty seven in the bush war, led the fourty eight millions Ugandans in the war against Covid 19. It’s true that most Ugandans lost lives succumbing to the deadly disease but it was not as worse as it happened in other countries of the world. Few months after the pandemic, There has been an outbreak of Ebola in the areas of Mubende and the neighboring districts, several Ugandans have already been infected and many others have lost lives, the ministry of health is trying to save the situation but ofcource with the backing of the able leader that values the life of every citizen of Uganda not like those who want to take advantage of the lived of Ugandans to achieve their goals.
Covid 19 and Ebola are not the worst diseases that have attacked Uganda before, there was time of the outbreak of the HIV & AIDS where so many people lost their lives up to now some people still face the impact of that scourge. President Museveni stood his ground and declared war against AIDS and that’s how the spread has gone down since then, Uganda has performed exceedingly well in the fight against AIDs as compared to other countries in Africa and the world. Up today there are so many initiatives in place that are meant to keep the struggle running and with the goal of putting AIDS to an end. I have been in the audiences addressed by the opponents of President Museveni but I have never heard any of them giving advice to the Young people and the public to prevent themselves from being infected by HIV & AIDS their focus is always on politics and telling Ugandans how the current government has failed and how they should be given a chance to rule Uganda. They’re not responsible enough to value the lives of Ugandans and no wonder when the government banned crowds during last campaigns, they forced their way to keep having crowds and deliberately spreading the virus. That’s the same reason as to why it’s easier for them to support the idea of stopping the Oil project because to them what matters is taking over leadership at whatever cost. What matters is fighting the personal war they’ve with the current government not minding about the lives of innocent Ugandans and who are the biggest stakeholders of a country called Uganda.
In these days when European Union members of Parliament and their contact person in Uganda Bobi Wine have stretched their necks to the Ugandan oil project we need God save President Museveni so that he leads us in the fight against imperialism and defending our godly given gift of oil. We need God to save President Museveni so that he tells off the shallow minded and egocentric European Union Parliament to back off our internal affairs because the East Africa is blessed with the talented leaders who can ably handle the issues which they raised. We need God to save President Museveni so that he challenges the Ugandan opposition puppets who get directives grom Europe and whole fully sell their minds to our colonisers to support the ideas that may crumble the economy of the country hence sending all the citizens including their supporters into terrible suffering and death. We need God to save President Museveni so that he assures those enemies of progress that Ugandans plans will continue whether they support those plans or not. But we also need the same God to open the minds of all Ugandans including those who are under the foolery of the opposition to know that we are fighting for a right cause, to understand that the few challenges that are visible in the governance of Uganda are also visible in the governance of Europe even when their democracies are older than ours, We need God to open the minds of all Ugandans to understand that the challenges that Uganda has today will be the same challenges that Uganda will have if the opposition is trusted with power. God save President Museveni to keep fighting for us.
The writer is a deputy RDC Kyenjojo District.
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