Uganda leaders’ most famous quotes – Part Three

On 1979 war
Ugandans don’t like wars but sometimes a war becomes inevitable.
Uganda Times, September 1, 1979

On grabbing national property
Grabbing in Uganda’s leadership destroyed the country. Where are the Nubians now after amassing so much wealth? We shall not accept this [grabbing].
Uganda Times, August 30, 1980

This type of leadership where people just amass wealth without explaining how they obtained it is a tragedy for Uganda we will get rid of it.
Uganda Times, June 30, 1980

On insecurity in Karamoja
The problem was inherited from the colonialists who saw Karamoja as a zoo. It has now spilled over with a number of other causes.
Uganda Times, September 10, 1979

On poverty
We cannot afford in this age of space exploration to preside over a famine-stricken and poverty-ridden nation.
Weekly Topic, August 15, 1980

On dictatorship
We shall never allow a leader to hang on power. We shall fight him in the same manner as we deposed Amin.
Uganda Times, May 27, 1980

Cleanliness in leadership is one of the rarest commodities in Uganda.
Weekly Topic, June 6, 1980

Africa is tired of leaders who cling to power against the wishes of the masses.
Uganda Times, November 10, 1980

Dictatorship is the major cause of instability and dictators must be challenged.
New Vision, May 27, 1991

It would be political suicide for the Movement [NRM] to abandon the peasants.
Sunday Vision, November 11, 2007

On leading Uganda
Running a country like Uganda is not easy. It is like driving a trailer on a bad road. You cannot give it to people who are learning to drive or those whose driving permits have been cancelled.
New Vision, July 27, 2005

On patriotism
Ugandans would have to be taught how to fight against dictatorship. Don’t fear anything. Amin used to say that he feared nobody but God and where is he today?
Uganda Times, July 9, 1980

On his daughters
I have already made my will because at some point I will die and in my will my girls will inherit from me.
Saturday Monitor, June 18, 2010

On Members of Parliaments’ salary
It is criminal for Members of Parliament to earn Shs4 million when the Primary teacher is earning Shs70,000 per month.
The Monitor, June 27, 1997

On education
We must ensure that every African has been to school, not only just to learn to read and write English, French or Arabic as if that is education. The people must learn skills that can feed them.
The Monitor June 5, 1997

On African leaders
I’m a freedom fighter – I would feel insulted if you called me a politician. Politicians here in Africa do not have a good reputation. Really, I am not enjoying being President. I want to finish rebuilding the army, the police, and the Judiciary and leave the country with a new generation. And then I want to leave office.
Reproduced from Time Magazine by the Weekly Topic, November 15, 1989

On fighting corruption
Uganda’s cause of disunity mainly spring from fear that public officials are cutting up the national cake among themselves. During the last 12 years most people, especially the top brass, had been grabbers.
Uganda Times, September 10, 1979

Corruption is a cancer which, if not checked will hinder progress in all sectors of society. Negligence and corruption coupled with wrong methods of work are a lethal combination indeed.
Address to NRC members, April 30, 1990

On Idi Amin’s sympathisers
Those who are sorry that Amin went will be sorry if they provoke us.
Uganda Times, September 10, 1979

On colonial land laws
The land laws of 1900 were laws of robbery by the colonialists to manoeuvre to get local agents.
The Crusader, May 30, 1989

On UPM being labelled refugee party
My lawyers are in the process of suing the leader of the Uganda Peoples Congress for slander. We are suing these people and they will point who are the refugees in our leadership.
Uganda Times, August 19, 1980

On UPM ideology
The UPM struggle is not so much to enter State House, but rather to consolidate the people’s strength. Once the people have good leadership, no one will come with a gun and defeat them.
Uganda Times, August 15, 1980

On DP leader, Semogerere
DP’S president general Paul Ssemogerere’s thoughts are only concerned with going to Entebbe [State House], but how many leaders have been there? It is important to plan for the future instead of telling people of Uganda that the DP has already won the elections.
Uganda Times, August 15, 1980

On Luweero war
We are fighting for a just cause for the democratic rights and human dignity of our people which has been trampled upon. Our political line is progressive because it is opposed to the perpetuation of the social economical backwardness of the African continent.
His book: Why we fought a protracted people’s war 1981

Although this [war] was painful and tragic – because of the loss of lives it caused, it was all the same a necessary historical process.
National Resistance News 1986

At the time of launching the armed struggle, many people in the country did not know what it was about. Moreover, the majority of Ugandans knew there was something drastically wrong in Uganda, but they did not know that anything could be done to remedy the situation.
National Resistance News 1986

On Luweero triangle
I will always regard Luweero as my political Mecca. When Muslims are praying, they look in the direction of Mecca. When I am talking about politics, I will always look in the direction of Luweero.
The Crusader, May 28-30, 1996

On liberation of South Africa
Now that our mission in Uganda has been accomplished, Tanzania and Uganda might in future fight wars together. We must, therefore, consolidate our operation to prepare us for the big struggle in southern Africa.
News conference, Kampala, The Standard, Kenya July 3, 1979

On the International Criminal Court
We had supported the ICC initially but we no longer have any business with it now. It’s just a bunch of useless people.
Independent, May 20-26, 2016

On homosexuality
The African church is the only one that is still standing against homosexuality. The Europeans are finished. If we follow them, we shall end in Sodom and Gomorrah. When they [Europeans] hear us fighting homosexuality, they think we do so because of religion. No. even before religion came; we were against it and many other vices.
New Vision, June 4, 2010

On Democratic Party
DP helped UPC to destroy democracy and this resulted in Amin’s coming to power. DP supporters merely folded hands when their party was banned [1969] and all that their parliamentarians could do was to cross the floor and join UPC. They just looked on while the monster of dictatorship swallowed the country.
Weekly Topic, July 25, 1986

I joined DP in 1960 but I quit in 1970 because I saw that they were going nowhere. They are still where I left them.
New Vision, April 5, 2004

They are good people, very hospitable indeed. They will make you a good tea and talk, but they are always sleeping.
Uganda Times, July 9, 1980

On fighting for human rights
The main objective of our struggle [Luweero war] was to ensure the end of extra-judicial killings, the restoration of human rights and the sovereignty of our people.
New Vision, February 7, 2007

On extra-judicial killings

We must ask ourselves the question whose answer is well known to us all. Has the situation improved since the liberation? It is a shame that Ugandans who had survived the bloody reign of terror, who participated in the liberation war and come out alive continue to die at the hands of gangsters and criminals.
Uganda Times, June 17, 1980

The people who had guns [security personnel] were paid to protect us turned those guns against us [citizens]. They killed people with impunity. The government of the day did nothing about it.
Daily Nation, December 18, 1985

People were killed in 1964, our people were killed in 1966, our people were killed in 1969, Amin killed our people from 1971 to 1979. Obote killed our people from 1981 to 1985 and the Military Council has been killing our people even recently.
Daily Nation, December 18, 1985

By using violence against State violence, we were able to establish equilibrium where the people in power must be persuaded once and for all never to violate the rights of the people.
Daily Nation, December 18, 1985

Ugandans had become so debased that when we took over Kampala, the first thing people was to thank us that they were no longer being killed, as being killed was a normal thing.
Address to Acholi leaders in Gulu, March 12, 1986

On Uganda disintegrating after him

I don’t like this argument that if Museveni goes there will be chaos. The implication is that, the society does not have internal strength to stand up as a society. It is just depending on some single magician by the name of Museveni who using wizardry and has managed to put the people together.
The Monitor, November 18-21, 1994

There are many people, some of whom I don’t even know who can come up. Each situation throws up its leaders. Even myself I’m a product of my generation.
The Monitor, November 18-21, 1994

I don’t want the idea of saying that it is Museveni’s wizardry that has managed to bring together the people of Uganda. If you had asked people what would happen in case Obote goes to heaven or hell, they may not even have known that there was a schoolboy known as Museveni who would be called such a wonderful leader.
The Monitor, November 11-14, 1994