It’s yet again a pleasure to be alive to celebrate another Heroes Day which falls every June 9. The 35th Heroes Day anniversary comes when time is more distant since when our heroes dedicated themselves to fight for a free country yet their sacrifices feel more tangible than before. The theme: “Hail our legends: A Secure Uganda Is Now a Reality”.
Last year’s was a great celebration at Kasaala Catholic Parish Grounds in Butuntumula Sub-County in Luweero District where the national celebrations were held. This year, the celebrations are being hosted at Mpenja Church of Uganda Primary School Playgrounds, in Mpenja Sub County, Gomba District, part of the Luweero corridor, in keeping with tracing the theatre of action and the personalities that were involved in various stages of the war, with some paying the ultimate price-paying with their lives-and others living to tell the tales.
Gomba District which was carved off from greater Mpigi District was a resistance corridor. Dear reader, you can details of what transpired in this area from other writings and narratives of fighters, modern historians and witnesses. But what is clear is that this corridor also served as the transitory route where new NRA recruits from the deep western part of Uganda used as they joined the main epicentre of the resistance struggle in Luweero. The UNLA soldiers turned their wrath on innocent citizens and killed them in their hundreds especially after suffering frontline defeats in the Luweero fighting corridor. Therefore, Gomba still has scars from the war and one way to help the healing is to be there and celebrate the memory of those who died and the greats still living.
In taking the celebrations to the Luweero zones, the aim was to bring the story back to where the liberation struggle was mostly fought, in which process, heros were made. The personal sacrifices and commitment to liberate this country of the then rebel leader, Yoweri Museveni, can be remembered and immortalised in many ways because of the breadth of the revolution that he undertook with those who dared to believe in the mission and vision. We shall never forget our heros!
This is a historical day on which we reflect on the contributions of our heroes and heroines in the political and socio-economic transformation of Uganda.
There are many forms of security- it could be cyber security, financial security, information security, operational security, etc. However, in light of this year’s theme for Heroes Day, we are talking about political and socio economic security of our country Uganda that henceforth nurtures any other form of security for our people to enjoy their motherland. I feel that with this in mind, we cant go wrong in how we remember our heroes and do the best to extend our imagination to draw exactly how they would have loved Uganda to be at this point in time.
Uganda is secure and steadily transforming. As the heroes of yesteryears, today we have no alternative; we must as Ugandans unite in peace, harmony and with resolute patriotism and self-love to chart a brighter future for ourselves and for the sake of our motherland. The firm foundation laid by our heroes and which continues to be strengthened for a thriving constitutional democracy, and a just, open, accountable and prosperous society must be the bedrock of our security. With the style of determination and dedication, we cannot fail to overcome the challenges of today and to overcome poverty and backwardness.
The concept of “security” in this year’s Heros Day theme ties in with the NRM Manifesto’s 2021-2026 theme which is: “Securing your future.”
President Yoweri Museveni together with other compatriots made a deliberate decision to launch an armed struggle in 1981 after a messy election to liberate Uganda. After a 5 year peoples protracted armed struggle, Museveni became the eighth president of Uganda in 1986. Uganda since independence in 1962 had been characterised by chronic instability and violence. Military coups, state instigated violence, lack of democratic pace, lack of security of persons and property, a collapsing economy and all other social evils defined Uganda of the time. By giving Uganda an extended period of political continuity and stability, President Museveni -and the National Resistance Movement (NRM)- has helped resolve the biggest source of state fragility that had led Uganda to state failure. That’s why those who do not see the value in the President’s extended stay in power simply don’t know or appreciate our troubled history.
As a result of Uganda’s fortunes in form of stability, Uganda today, previously a chronically unstable failed state, plays the most critical stabilising role this region, exports stability to sister countries such as Somalia, Central Africa Republic, South Sudan and DR Congo.
With the peace and stability guaranteed, the vision of the NRM government of a private sector-led industrial development is gaining momentum. In this regard, Uganda is focusing on the resuscitation of industry, establishment of new industries through the various presidential industrial hubs that have been established across the country. Export development, innovation and rural industry schemes are beginning to bear fruit. The translation of knowledge into goods and services being spearheaded by the Ministry Education and Sports, Science, Technology and Innovation Secretariat will further accelerate sustainable socio-economic modernisation and transformation.
The NRM government has, since its inception, accelerated the entrenchment and consolidation of democracy, constitutionalism and the rule of law in pursuit of social justice and equal opportunities for the economic empowerment of the previously marginalised majority.
Informed by a cardinal character during the liberation struggle, what remains is to stamp out corruption. Agencies of government that mandated to fight corruption are being fully empowered and there should be no more excuses for fixing our systems across the socio, economic and political spectrum. Accountability and transparency will keep on being enforced in every facet of our society.
Peace, unity, harmony and love are prerequisites for the achievement of our country’s prosperity and sustainable socio-economic development, all this thanks to our Heros whom we celebrate and honour and thank God for blessing our land with such trailblazers. May we all work and sacrifice to be remembered as heroes in our own right!
I congratulate H.E Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveveni (a living hero) and all Ugandans upon marking the 35th Heroes Day!
For God and My Country!
The author is the Minister for the Presidency
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