President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has always been a smart leader or a genius within our midst. He hasn’t ruled Uganda for this long because of luck and sheer guts.
No Sir! He has the attitude of a lion and a magnanimity of God.
Such a man is very dangerous to fellow men especially those who enters in political fights with him. He has an uncanny way of dealing harshly with his opponents in whatever color or form he encounters them. He doesn’t kill or jail his opponents but he reasons them squarely.
At one time, his longtime aide, Janat Mukwaya told us that:
“If you don’t want to change
your point of view indeed, if
you don’t want to believe in
Mr. Museveni, then don’t accept
to meet him. But if you do, he
will surely change you!”
In village meetings, often under a mango tree, people like Museveni are never allowed to talk unless there is a serious impasse. African village chiefs don’t like ‘smart asses’ especially infront of their wives!
This is the same with white people: they hate clever folks especially if they’re black males!
I will tell you two ‘questions’ Museveni answered brilliantly and left the interviewers completely awestruck.
QUESTION by a BBC correspondent in 1999:
“Mr. Museveni you are busy spending millions of dollars to prope up your defence and yet Uganda is safe and peaceful. Why is this the case?”
ANSWER by Mr. Museveni:
“Your country, Britain, is an island therefore naturally defended. But it recently launched a nuclear submarine of the Trident Class at a cost of 3billion pounds Sterling. And yet you have no known enemies. Uganda you’re blaming for spending US$260million on defence is surrounded by savage countries like The Sudan, Rwanda and DRCongo!”
Then there was this question a decade earlier in 1987.
QUESTION by Ugandan journalist Shaka Saali then reporter for Voice Of America (VOA):
“Mr. President you have finally
taken power. But will the people
of Northern Uganda, those you
have removed from power,
accept your leadership?
ANSWER by President Museveni:
“First and foremost you people
underestimate who is Museveni.
If the people of Northern Uganda
accepted to work with Italians
(White nuns and missionaries)
who are foreigners; why they
won’t accept me who is their
brother?…but you come back again 10 years from today and
ask me that question again!”
Lo and behold!
During the presidential debates at Serena Conference Hall in 2016, I saw Shaka Saali seated among the panel of interviewers. By 2016, Museveni had been in power by 30 years and the people of Northern Uganda were an integral part of that long leadership journey!
Shaka, who had been quiet through out the debate, was perhaps wondering what a genius Museveni was. And prophetic too!
Therefore this is the Museveni, now even wiser at 80 years old, singlehandedly taking on the world.
He is often refered to as “Africa’s premier fighting general’ and a freedom fighter who will never stop fighting. Some commenters used to refer to him as Africa’s “other statesman” when Nelson Mandela was still around. And he hasn’t lost any of that aura or battles he has participated in.
Museveni has fought many battles in Uganda and Africa now he has focused his attention towards the “Global North – West” or call it Europe or even “white people”, if you don’t mind. This new frontier won’t leave him the same person because he is taking on a very formidable enemy who takes no “matekwa- prisoners” no matter what.
His fights especially with the Global North haven’t been attracting much attention until his Parliament passed the “anti homosexuality bill” in 2023. The world went nuts and pulled all strings to strangle his government to make him change his mind. There is no sign that he will recant his stand on the gay bill.
It is obvious that Mr. Museveni has ruled Uganda for this long and participated in many ‘stabalizing’ and some ‘distabalizing’ acts within and beyond Uganda because of many enabling factors but one outstanding one being accepted by Western leaders. The truth is: they allowed him to be but now are changing.
After Museveni signing the “Anti homosexuality bill” in Uganda, it was like he had “crossed the Rubicon” or performed a ‘sacrilege’ act. Others said that he had opened the ‘pandora box’ or became a ‘smart’ negro.
For whatever superlatives you may come up with to describe Yoweri Museveni, one fact will always stand out: he has God’s favors.
Irrespective of all this, Mr. Museveni remains adamant that his people’s cultural beliefs and taboos have to be considered above any talk of protecting ‘minority’ rights. Therefore the culture of Africans is paramount and must be protected no matter what.
As a freedom fighter, Museveni understands fully the need to protect individual rights, even those of ‘gay’ people, but the ‘belief systems’ of his people are paramount and have no dollar-value attached to them.
And the biggest problem in all this is Museveni’s Christian up-bringing. He often jokes that if he had not become a freedom fighter, he would have ended up an evangelical preacher.
With this unchallenged knowledge of the bible therefore quite conversant with the Book of Genesis (Sodom and Gomorrah) and all that, Mr. Museveni cannot understand what had happened to his brethren in the West. He is now calling this “shallowness” of a people he once respected.
He cannot have much sleep wondering how the people who brought the bible and Christianity here are now turning against that greatest of great religions. If Christianity is abandoning one of the most important commands or tenets from God of: “don’t practice homosexuality”, where does that leave religion as a whole?
That is why Museveni vehemently refused this and a few weeks ago he made a speech which is still making aftershocks in Western capitals.
President Yoweri Museveni told about 33 Parliament speakers from Commonwealth countries meeting in Kampala a fortnight ago that “the West’s modern oppression takes on the form of aggression, looting, enslavement, displacement, ethnic cleansing, colonization and indirect domination without occupying one’s territory.”
“If you want freedom, if you value freedom, then you should value the freedom of everybody,” he said.
“If you value independence, if you value dignity, then you must respect the dignity of everybody. Stop manipulations and lectures to the societies that are different from yours.”
Reading between the lines, Museveni was defending the sanctity of religion. He is now convinced that the West, led by America (where a ‘new’ christian-based faith is created every day), is leading the entire humanity to “Gehenna- hellfire!” And he is aware that the Church is not helping matters by becoming a flip-flopping entity.
But he is bitter about many other issues too.
Then a few days ago, he repeated those similar words during the NAM (Non Allied Movement) conference in Kampala, where he made a scathing attack against the West (Global North or Europe or white people) for the double standards they still portray when dealing with the Global South (developing countries).
Europeans plus America and now Canada, are still treating the so-called ‘poor’ countries like Uganda with a ‘patternalisitic’ attitude or as ‘small’ children who needs to be guided.
According to President Museveni, Europeans are still failing to understand that things have changed and changed forever. They seem not ready to accept the fact that their once small and ‘beloved’ puppy they used to caddle, has now grown into this fierce and menacing dog!
He wondered why “Europeans call themselves ‘democratic’ but exhibit behaviors of people who have no ‘democratic’ credentials at all!”
For some years now, President Museveni has been consistent in shouting at Europeans to also try to look at the world from other people’s perspectives. It is almost like he is the heir to Tanzanian’s Julius Nyerere who often called white people “Wapererezi- spies” and Zimbabwe’s Robert Gabriel Mugabe who once refered to UK as the “United Gay Kingdom” led by ‘idiotic’ leaders.
As the new disciple in bashing white people, Mr. Museveni, at some point called them ‘stupid’ and at Munyonyo NAM Summit, he called them ‘unreasonable,’ ‘shallow’ and with ‘twisted’ minds!
He gave an example during the struggle where journalists would ask him whether he was “Pro- West or Pro- East” meaning either supporting the Soviet Union (Warsaw Pact) or America (NATO). His answer was: “Why would I be ‘pro’ any of those things? Can’t I be Pro- myself?”
Some years ago, during the UN General Assembly meeting, President Museveni led the concern of African leaders when he said:
“We take our time to fly over
here and we end up speaking
for only 5 minutes. Are we
children to be restricted on
what to say?”
He was not amused that Africa with about 1.3 billion people and 52 countries could not even be considered for a U.N Security Council permanent seat! He wondered how a small country like France with a population of 68 million people has ‘veto power’ besides getting most of its wealth and power from Africa!
He has also been consistent in telling whites, especially Americans that “I don’t have any need to visit your country. My country is better and I have everything I need here!”
Americans often rush to ‘burn’ or deny visas to so- called “undesirable” Africans and other third world citizens from traveling to the United States an exercise often viewed as bullying.
The United States is now a global policeman who checks even in people’s wardrobes and decides who is desirable and who is not. America, considering it’s wealth, it has more criminals than any other country on earth. And yet it is in the habit of ‘crimalizing’ other people!
This is bullying Mr. Museveni is bitter about. He is wondering why the West wants everybody to behave like them or have the same belief systems?
With this stance and utterances, I think, American CIA and British MI6 spies now sees Mr. Museveni as a dangerous man misleading others in the developing world. In other words he is becoming ‘clever’ and too ‘smart’ to deal with. This is how Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and Congolese Patrice Lumumba were eliminated!
Many observers, including yours truly, are worried about President Museveni’s presidency indeed his life because he is consistently alienating himself from Western capitals. Take the example of his preference and admiration of Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China as a snub toward Europeans.
It is true Africa is developing and in the last 20 years, the continent has done many things more than what was done in the over 200 years of colonialism. And the main engine behind this phenomenal growth and meteoric rise has been China.
The Chinese are a smart people. They somehow managed to ‘take’ most of American dollars to China through their hard work and ingenuity. They ‘stole’ most of the global technology and perfected it. Now all roads (air flights) lead to China for trade, to shop for road engineers and of course for loans. China has those dollars I have mentioned and dishing them to Africa as one would a wedding cake.
Now you don’t have to guess where President Museveni gets his power to speak to the throne!
Americans and Europeans are not amused, seating by observing people like Museveni constructing highways, highrise apartments and other infrastructures like airports using Chinese money and expertise.
And they hate this because, when it came to Africa, they had designed our system with speed governors. It was therefore not easy to develop fast. Without Chinese money and expertise; Japanese soft loans and now Indian comprador capitalists, Africa wouldn’t think of developing at all.
The Global North was tying us on loans and ‘donations’ which encouraged no faster growth let alone independence. They gave loans, which we had to pay at exorbitant interests, but approved after a series of conditionalities. Many projects had to stall for years waiting on loans from New York or London.
With the Chinese, most of their companies are state-owned, decisions are taken at cabinet level rather than in boardrooms. Besides it is state money therefore nobody worries about it!
It is not that the Global North is jealousy of us for getting these ‘free’ loans; it is not happy that China gives us ‘unconditional’ loans at times interest free. This defeats the very idea of forming the Britton Woods sisters: the world bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)!
They want China to stop giving us loans because them, the West, used their loans with conditionalities like political control and manipulations. Like enforcing democracy and respect of human rights. Chinese people have their own problems therefore have no time to force other people to ‘eat’ Chinese rice!
This is what is making President Museveni very bitter.
The West has for centuries stifled development here first through imperialism, them instituting unfair trade practices (tariff barriers) and now enforcing ‘fake’ human rights. What human rights are they talking about when every ‘fourth’ black male you encounter in America has been to jail?
They have not atoned for slavery and now have policies which will forever keep black people- African Americans- a very poor society. The police profile them; abuse them; denied access to good education therefore not able to get good paying jobs and even hated.
Because of President Museveni, most African countries are now busy booting out Europeans especially the French in the former so-called “Francophone” countries. There is a silent rebellion going on in Africa and Europe is not amused at all.
France has been at the forefront of exploiting Africa especially it’s former colonies by creating a sinister but clever immigration system. All ‘smart’ Africans are encouraged to move to France and the ‘foolish’ ones left behind. The latter group is the one used to facilitate thievery of their countries resources. Now the people are fighting back and knowing the French, or white people for that matter, they are devising ways and means how to punish these ‘rogue’ countries like Mali and Burkina Faso.
But at the Kampala Summits, President Yoweri Museveni was very bitter perhaps because of the following reasons:
THE STORY OF AGOA:
America had removed Uganda from AGOA (African Growth and Opportunity Act) an initiative which provides duty-free treatment to goods of designated sub-Saharan African countries (SSAs). Uganda was removed from this lucrative initiative because of its ‘anti-gay’ stand.
Most of the global “mivumba- used clothes” end up in Africa. Though no one likes to admit, this is a multi- billion dollar trade and most of that money ends up in America and England.
Uganda, through AGOA, was selling clothes or their materials worth about US$60million to America annually but importing “mivumba” worth nearly US$200millions! Who is fooling who?
The Global North is happy sending all it’s used fridges, cookers, basins, bicycles, carpets, name others but junk. What is the environmental cost or impact of dumping these used goods to Africa? No one will ever tell you because everyone is busy talking about human rights and other things.
Surely, this is what is pissing off Mr. Museveni.
CANCELLING WORLD BANK LOANS:
The world bank had also suspended and even scraped loans it had previously approved for Uganda as punishment for the ‘anti-gay’ bill which a democratically elected Parliament passed and President Museveni, who was elected fairly in 2021, signed it into law last year.
He is wondering how the world bank or Global North can be so cruel to cancel development aid to Uganda at a time when the country was looking like it was breaking even. “Are these actors really interested in developing the African child?” Museveni often asks.
His excessive annoyance was occasioned by the fact that he saw his visitors to both NAM, IGAD and G77+ China Summit pass through patched up roads while others were still under construction because of this world bank loan snub.
Museveni saw the world bank and UN system as one and the same designed purposely to perpetuate an unfair world. The bank controlled the world economically and the UN run the political front. Both these bodies are based in the United States and the country also pays more contributions to them.
GAZA WAR:
Museveni said that “the West was carrying out a new form of colonialism without actually occupying territory. It is common knowledge that President Museveni is a personal friend of Benjamin Netanyahu the Prime Minister of Israel. As a freedom fighter, Museveni is not happy that Israel is trying to wipe out Gaza from the face of the earth.
He understands fully the mistake the Hamas made to attack Israel so brazenly on October 7 resulting into the deaths of many innocent Jewish children and their parents. But this is not reason enough to carry out a form of a genocide to revenge for that transgression.
The failure to have a cease-fire is not what humanity is all about. People, innocent children including infants in incubators are dying and the Global North is simply encouraging Israel to kill more!
What an insult to humanity that one country can decide to wipe another out and no one seems to care?
Museveni is bitter because the Global North is ganging up against Russia and hating on Vladimir Putin for attacking Ukraine. We all know the weapons Russia posseses but fights a humane and sensible war. Certainly Israel, or call it America, is not doing the same.
He is perturbed and wondering what exactly is democracy if so-called ‘democratic’ countries are hyping indeed supervising the blugdeoning of weak states!
UGANDA AND ITS OIL CURSE:
Uganda has plenty of recoverable oil and gas Museveni calls “my oil” but Europeans don’t want him to extract that oil. Their claims of ‘environmental degradation’ is what is really pissing off Mr. Museveni.
There is a paradigm shift within the Global North, historically championing energy transition discussions despite being leading Green House Emitters. They don’t want other countries like Uganda to enjoy peaceful use of their God- given resources because of environmental concerns.
If these fellows are really serious about Green House Gases, they should stop shipping second- hand fridges and cookers to Africa. They cannot because, to them, making money comes first.
Why when it comes to Africa, environmental concerns are brought up? Who is that ‘boogyman’ who seats somewhere and decides for the rest of humanity? What is happening is like this rich man who squandered his money on alcohol, women and flashy cars now calling on others to help ask ‘other’ rich people (who saved their money) to spare some. This is what the West is asking us to do and it is unfair.
The West cut down it’s trees and ate above it’s capacity. In most Western government offices, the tables are made from mahogany, an African tree they cut and used. Even the doors of some of the greatest European palaces are made from African timber! What can those people now tell us?
LIFE PRESIDENCY PROJECT:
I told you before that President Museveni wouldn’t rule for this long if the Global North had not allowed it. He has ruled for nearly 40 years and they had no problem with that. Now that he is ‘talking’, they’re bringing up the issue of his overstay.
Like Joseph Mobutu, President Museveni is sensing that white people are seeing him as a problem having outlived his usefulness. They want to discard him like a used condom despite all the happiness he gave them!
Then they ‘preach’ to Museveni about abandoning his ‘life’ presidency project. “Who are they to often lecture to us?” He asks wherever they pinpoint the fact that he has perhaps overstayed in power. At what year did Mr. Museveni begun to ‘overstay’ in power?
It is now obvious that it is no longer true that “what is good for the goose is good for the gander!”
I think we have to look back into history to console Mr. Museveni from this heartache and subsequent bitterness. After the following simple history lesson, he will not waste his time again on people who will forever think that are ‘superior’ knowledgeable.
WHAT WENT WRONG:
This is what is troubling Museveni the idea that ‘others’ are forever right while the rest are not even allowed to think that are right. The origin of this comes from the initial attitude ‘new comers’ to Africa showed our ancestors.
When Europeans and Arabs came to Africa, they did not teach our ancestors to make fire or smelt iron. They found us knowing all those and more. For instance, as Mr. Museveni enjoys saying, “they came depending on wind boats and they found us with canoes we could control the direction of!”
But because of their ulterior motives to acquire free land and resources, they wasted our time in Churches and Mosques meanwhile they helped themselves on choice pieces of land. They accompanied this religious teachings with a system of education which largely ‘miseducated’ our people.
The education given to us was preparing us to serve Europe and Arabs only taught us Arabic and Islam. We only discovered later, if at all, that most of what they ‘taught’ us, were simply tales or ‘fire place ‘ stories (Hadith) our people knew too well to narrate. They never gave us a chance to also tell our tales. If they had, may be, they wouldn’t have caused the many injustices they caused us.
They even found our kings and chiefs wearing gold bracelets and trinkets which they claimed were ‘anti God’ therefore we had to discard it. They went secretly in the bushes and picked it and shipped it to their countries. They took our artefacts like masks they called “primitive art” claiming that they contained “voodoo- juju” the same pieces they still display in museums in their countries.
We were not a godforsaken people but his finest creation. But man knows not because of his smallness. it is only a matter of time before the secret is known.
President Museveni shouldn’t despair because God is on his side.
We could not succeed even after political independence because they had largely prepared us to be perpetually entangled to their countries. They couldn’t even help us to succeed because they set us up to fail in the first place!
After many years of lies and denial, now they know for sure that God, indeed, stood in Africa during creation. They know too that it is Africa and her people who will save humanity from injuring itself. God placed here great forests, swamps, meandering rivers and great expanses of lakes. This is what will save a greedy world from suffocating itself.
But are our brothers in the Global North even aware of this role Africans must play? Of course they are still greedily exploiting the world to increase their stock of wealth and exposing themselves to future doom. They’re in space not to improve on science or on ocean floors to discover something to improve the lives of humans but for selfish reasons.
BY WAY OF CONCLUSION:
The late Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa used to tell a joke that:
“When the white man came,
he told us to kneel, close our
eyes and praise the Lord. But
when we opened our eyes, we
had the bibles in our hands
and he had the land!”
And an often chumming Tutu would finish the joke with the following words: “true they took the land but we got something better: the bible!”
President Museveni is very bitter with the world. But he should take comfort in the knowledge that God will always be wiser than man.
But with time, God’s original people will repossess the universe and reclaim their true position and value. Our ‘cousins’ will have to do much to stop this wheel of change from rolling but, because God will be leading this, they will fail.
“All things are temporary including empires!” So warned a bitter President Yoweri Museveni.
When God proposed to create man (Quranic Sulat Bakara) other creatures, especially Angels, warned Him about this idea. Some Angels like “Iblis- Satan” vehemently refused and God sent him away from Heaven. Looking at it critically, it was not a good idea by God to delegate man to head all His creations.
LAST WORD is from President Museveni: “Instead of using this human progress for the benefit of all, some actors out of greed and philosophical, ideological and strategic shallowness, miscalculate and seek to monopolize knowledge and also use knowledge to oppress others!”
Adam Kamulegeya
adamkam2003@gmail.com
0779 104 336
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