MUSEVENI NEW YEAR MESSAGE

Rwakitura, Uganda | THE INDEPENDNET | President Yoweri Museveni has in his New Year message congratulated Ugandans on completing the year 2024 and thanked God for protecting Uganda. “Uganda remained peaceful on account of God, a strong Army, the other sister security services and a supportive population,” he said.

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Fellow Ugandans. Greetings from Maama Janet, the family, the NRM Headquarters and the Government.

Congratulations on completing the year 2024 and we thank God for protecting Uganda. Uganda remained peaceful on account of God, a strong Army, the other sister security services and a supportive population. You, for instance, remember when the ADF terrorists came from Congo, killed the children of Lhubiriha Secondary School, killed two tourists and a Ugandan, entered Kibaale Forest National Park and started killing a few People around the Forest. The combined capacity of Uganda’s security apparatus, was partially activated, including the LDUs. Within a couple of months, the whole group was destroyed, including the killing of the group leader, Kamusu. This was in the month of June 2023 the same was the case, when in the year 2021, terrorists using jambias (pangas), started killing People in the Masaka area. The group was crushed. It is that capacity of God, the Army, the other sister Security Forces and the People, that even in this year ending, has kept Uganda stable. There were, for instance, some shallow schemes by local traitors and their foreign sponsors, to cause criminality and civil disorder like you saw in Kenya, including gathering demonstrators and shooting them using Iraqi returnees, to give the impression that it is the Government that killed them. The whole evil scheme, was defeated by God, the UPDF, the other security agencies and the People, as pointed out above.

However, there is rampant stealing of cattle, goats, etc and the soft handling by the police and the courts of such criminals through giving them police bonds and court bails. I have raised the issue of bails with His Lordship the Chief Justice, and I have banned the issue of Police bonds.

Any police personnel that give a police bond to a village thief when the case is ready for trial, will be held fully accountable. Firm legal handling of criminals, is very useful. I have shared with you through the social – media, how, recently, in my Karamoja trip, I was told that a total of 3,000 Karamojong Karachunas, through the efficient and dedicated mechanism of the Military Court Martial, are in the different jails – 900 of them in Kitalya Prison. This explains why there is now total peace in Karamoja and the surrounding districts of Acholi, Lango, Teso, Bugisu and Sebei. It is also good for those Karachunas. Many of them would be dead by now on account of clashing with the UPDF. Let the Government introduce skilling to these young People, so that when they get out of Prison, they can create wealth and jobs for themselves and for other Ugandans.

Similarly, handling the village thieves legally firmly, is good for the villages and also good for those thieves. I recently, got a report from an attendant of the advanced military course at the National Defence College, Njeru, following their field research. In the research, they noticed some People drying green coffee harvested prematurely. When they inquired, they were told by the Wanainchi that nibatangatangana (to compete with some other People as to who would do something first) with the marijuana-smoking youth that idle in the Trading Centres doing nothing and, then, steal People’s coffee at night. What are the RDCs doing? Why do they not engage these youth to direct their efforts towards honest work? How about the Police? If the concerned People do not act, I will involve the UPDF to empower all the wealth creators – farmers, etc – to guard their property by activating the vast militia of our LDUs. It will not be good for those thieves. This harvesting of immature coffee, will affect the quality of our coffee. It is not acceptable.

I congratulate the Ugandans on the good coffee prices. This is because of the drought problems in Brazil, Vietnam and other coffee-growing Countries. It also confirms the correctness of the NRM strategy of its 1996 Manifesto of the 4acres model and seven activities. This was: one acre for clonal coffee; one acre for fruits (mangoes, oranges, pineapples, apples or grapes); one acre for pasture for dairy cattle; one acre for food crops (bananas, cassava, emoondi, etc); and poultry for eggs and piggery in the back yard (ekanyima); as well as fish- farming at the edge of the wetlands. This was the medicine for People who had fragmented the land so badly that they now had only 4 acres or less. When we made these recommendations, we had studied accurately the demand for all the products that grow in Uganda, within Uganda, within Africa and Internationally. This is why we included these 7 activities under intensive agriculture – where you use small land to get good money for the family – 4 acres or less. There are other products that the Country needs such as tea, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, maize, etc, but can only make enough money for the family, if you do them on a big scale. We included these into extensive agriculture.

In order to support both modes of agriculture – intensive and extensive – the NRM liberated our Research Scientists from the tyranny of the past regimes and, recently, we have started paying them well in the face of fierce opposition by some groups including the bogus UCDA that were misinforming Ugandans that they were responsible for the success of the coffee effort. It is our Scientists that have developed these seeds. They have never been under UCDA. Moreover, OWC distributed more coffee seedlings than the corrupt UCDA. When I involved OWC in seed distribution in 2013, our production of coffee was 2.7 million bags. It is now 9 million bags because of OWC. However, we do not only talk about coffee. We do not want Kaichokoomba (Kukongojja – walking on one leg like the children do when they are playing). A broader base for the family activities, is safer.

We are now adding irrigation in order to increase the yield and stability of crops and livestock production. A blueprint for irrigation will be availed to the whole Country. It is not only coffee that has done well. Many other crops and livestock activities, have done well. That is why our inflation rate is low all the time.

In spite of peace and a robust economy – even when we have not done all that we intend to do – this year has also brought some misery on account of natural disasters. We had the petrol tanker accident at Kigoogwa, the landslides in Bulambuli, the floods in Kasese (River Nyamugasani), Kiteezi landslides, etc. This is regrettable, especially when most of it is avoidable. Avoidable how? Do not live or build in a vulnerable area. Why do you build in a wetland or on a steep slope that is sharper than 30º or build in the flood plains of the rivers?

The forests, the papyrus (ebitoogo, ebifuunjo), the swamp grass (ebigugu – cyperum latifolia), are God’s brakes (ebizihiiza) and ropes (emigoye) to slow down the mukoka (run-off water, omutuunga, alele) and also hold the soils, especially in the steep areas. Why would reasonable people not see this? In Ntungamo where I was born, we were surrounded by hills and wetlands. We respected the whole environment. Who promoted the culture of okunyooma (ignore) God’s plans? Let us go back to the book of Genesis where God commanded that let the dry land be separated from the water. It says in Chapter 1 verse 9 as follows: And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

I will give a comprehensive report on the occasion of the NRM day in January 2025. On this occasion, these few remarks are all I want to say. However, I cannot end my short speech without pointing out two issues.

1. Warning the Country about the growing danger of Monkey Pox disease. This disease, is, apparently, being spread in two ways: contact with a sick person and through sex. The good thing is that it does not go through breathing like corona. Spreading by contact – sharing clothes, handshakes, sitting where a sick person has been sitting, etc, is enhanced when sick People do not report to the medical centres and remain at home, thereby infecting the People in the house.

Spreading by sex, happens, apparently, in the time of incubation of this disease which is 21days because when the pox blisters have appeared, the disease will be clear and sex is not likely. Therefore, anybody with blisters of monkey pox report to the health centre and isolate yourself from your family and, secondly, avoid indisciplined sex.

2. Finally, I congratulate Ugandans on the good performance of our sportsmen and women. Eversince 1986, the NRM has been concentrating on peacebuilding and economic recovery. We have not yet concentrated on sports, music and other talent-based services. Nevertheless, the mere achievement of peace, has already started unleashing star performance by our sportsmen and women in the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, African Games, etc. I congratulate all of them. We have also been honoured to be granted the opportunity to host CHAN early next year and AFCON in 2027 along with our brothers and sisters in Kenya and Tanzania. I am glad the Government is working vigorously to ensure that the necessary infrastructure is in place.

I thank everybody and I wish all of you, a prosperous 2025.

Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA.