Museveni preaches forgiveness

SHEEMA.

President Museveni at the weekend spoke of the need for a spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation if the country is to heal from the wounds inflicted by past political mistakes.

Mr Museveni was on Saturday speaking at the celebration of 110 years of Mzee Asanasiyo Rutibirayo, the father of Mr Chris Rwakasisi, a senior presidential advisor on security, in Kabwohe Town Council, Sheema District.

At the same function, area MP Dr Elioda Tumwesigye asked the President to stand again in 2016 pledging his constituency’s support. He said what happened in Bushenyi/Ishaka Municipality by-election, where an opposition candidate was elected, will not spread to the region.

“The current wars in NRM should not divert you from the good plans you have for this nation. NRM will remain strong in this region and we shall contain what happened in Bushenyi, it will not spread in the region,” Mr Tumwesigye said.

The thanksgiving ceremony was also used to acknowledge the release of former security minister in the Obote II government, Mr Rwakasisi, who spent two decades on death row in Luzira prison before benefitting from a presidential pardon in 2009.

“Uganda was crashed like a gourd. We had politics which were based on religion and tribes, which the NRM government has ably addressed. And I am telling this to the people of NRM that there is time for everything. You cannot keep angry forever,” Mr Museveni said.

A number of dignitaries from NRM and Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) members attended the celebration. They included: Rtd. Maj. Edward Rurangaranga, Mr Sam Kahindi, Mr Richard Kaijuka, Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu, Mr Yorokamu Bashasha, Eng. Yorokamu Katwiremu and Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro and health minister Christine Ondoa.

Mr Museveni said many people had urged him not to attend the function saying the UPC government caused the death of their relatives. But he said it is not good to keep angry with those who wronged you forever.

“Very many people are still angry (with what UPC did). We killed people who belonged to UPC and they also killed ours. But after the war, God gave NRM a chance to be in government which he never gave to others. We are against revenge which we have preached for all these years we have been in power,” hei said.

The President said the government is the only institution that has authority to kill but not individuals. He said the reason why UPC failed was because authority was given to nearly everyone who could execute it. “You cannot be in permanent enmity. Rwakasisi could have made personal mistakes but his relatives did not. We are here not to aggravate problems but to minimise them,” Mr Museveni said.

Speaking in Runyakore and quoting Bible verses, the President wondered why many Ugandans are not ready to reconcile yet the majority are Christians and Muslims. He said he did not sign Mr Rwakasisi’s death warrant because he listened to the voice of God. Mr Museveni revealed that he seeks God’s guidance when confronted with situations like he faced in Rwakasisi matter.

Mr Rwakasisi said he was thankful to Mr Museveni for giving him another chance to live.
“I am a loyal man. I loved President Obote very much but when I came from prison, I found he was no longer the President and had already died. Many people here may take it differently but Museveni is the best President Uganda has ever had. He has mastered certain ways of making anxious people feel comfortable,” Mr Rwakasisi said.

Earlier, Mr Museveni commissioned Kihunda Health Centre III in Kagango Sub-county. At the health centre, he told residents and local leaders to stop concentrating on requesting for service delivery only but to think of wealth creation too.

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