I can’t leave power now - Museveni

NRM Presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni accompanied by First Lady Janet acknowledge the thumbs-up gestures at Ruhama playground in Ruhama constituency, Ntungamo District on Friday. PHOTO BY COLLEB MUGUME

What you need to know:

Not yet time? The President, who has been in power for 29 years, said he will only leave power after getting the country “out of the forest” in which it is now.

Ntungamo . President Museveni has said he cannot leave power now because all he “planted has started bearing fruits”.
“Those who say, let him go, let him go, they need to know that this is not the right time. This old man who has saved the country, how do you want him to go? How can I go out of a banana plantation I have planted that has started bearing fruits?” Mr Museveni asked.


He was speaking in Rwashamaire Town at the first rally he addressed in Kajara County, Ntungamo District. The rally was directly adjacent to the home of former Uganda Peoples Congress National chairperson Yona Kanyomozi and overlooking the home of Forum for Democratic Change party president, Maj Gen Mugisha Muntu.
Opposition impatient?


President Museveni said most of those asking him to go are the impatient ones who left him “in the same forest he wants Uganda to get out.”


He said while there are many voices telling him to leave power, he still looks at Uganda as being in the middle of a forest and needs him to find a path for the country to come out.


“We can’t be in the middle of a forest and want the old man to go. This is not right. We must concentrate on development, my time will come and I will go. I don’t fear going because I have where to go, but we must first see where we go,” he added.


Speaking at Kyamate Secondary School where he held his final rally, Mr Museveni rallied NRM supporters to concentrate on developing themselves for creation of individual wealth.


Speaking about the December 13, fighting between supporters of NRM and the Opposition Go Forward, Mr Museveni said: “The other time I heard that there was one person who came here with goons, carried sticks and beat up my people. All those who beat up my people were arrested and are now in cells. There are very few who are still hiding but they also shall be arrested and tried. How can someone beat up people because they are wearing the picture of the old man, where do you go?”


Accompanied by his wife Janet who is also the district NRM chairperson and Ruhaama County MP, Museveni addressed four rallies at Rwashamaire, Rubaare, Ruhaama sub-county and Kyamate secondary school.