Here is speech the public wanted Museveni to deliver

On Sunday, September 9, 2018, Mr Museveni addressed the nation in a speech that was given wide media coverage.

Although I was unable to watch and listen, I am aware that the speech was given live coverage by a wide range of electronic media (radios and Tvs). And need I say, it was the ‘talk of the nation’ on many social media platforms.

Dear reader, I would like to present an imagined speech that would have excited the public. Here is the speech the public wanted Mr Museveni to deliver.

Countrymen and women. Fellow citizens, Ugandans and all persons resident in Uganda. I am here to share with you my ideas on how we should make our country a better place than it is today.

The NRM has sorted some of Uganda’s national challenges. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t face other challenges. We have done so much yet we have so much to do. We still have challenges.

We have obstacles. There are some bottlenecks hindering the achievement of my vision. And some people in the Opposition say I am one of the obstacles hindering the national vision.

But how can I be the problem yet I am the one who created the environment in which Ugandans even say the Head of State is the problem? I brought freedom. I brought Parliament where Ssemuju Nganda and Betty Nambooze have made abusing me their full time job.

I solved some of what had been classified as Uganda’s intractable problems. There was the Lost Counties. You ask yourself, lost to where? We restored the traditional leaders. We restored Parliament. And then I found oil. That is your oil. But I am the one who found it for you.

The other day, religious leaders and some bagurusi led by James Ogoola came to see me. They said they wanted Ugandans to talk. I told them but Ugandans are known for talking too much. Do you want them to talk much more? Even me as a Ugandan, I talk every day. And as you can see I am now talking to you.

Then they changed the word: from ‘talk’ to ‘dialogue’. They said they wanted to hold a national dialogue where Ugandans would talk about their future. And they wanted to invite me to that dialogue.

I told them if dialogue means talking, I will be there. I have a mouth and some ideas to present at that dialogue of theirs.

Countrymen and women, I would like to make a pronouncement that I have endorsed the Uganda National Dialogue, which is being organised by the Inter-Religious Council of Uganda (IRCU) and The Elders Forum of Uganda (TEFU).

I do not want to be accused of being the one who kulemesa (fail) Ugandans from talking to each other about their country. And to demonstrate my support, I have directed the Minister for Finance to resource this Uganda National Dialogue process.

But I told the religious leaders that the resolutions of the Uganda National Dialogue can only be implemented after the 2021. Even those Opposition people like Kizza Besigye, who ignorantly talk of a transitional government, should be patient enough to wait for 2021.

The NRM government was elected by Ugandans and I do not have the power to disengage the party from the management of the affairs of the State before the expiry of the mandate in 2021.

Those who say ‘Museveni Must Go’ such as my muzukulu Doreen Nyanjura should also be patient. I will go back to Rwakitura, but I have to finish my kisanja in 2021.
Fellow citizens, I say all this for God and My County.

Mr Bisiika is the executive editor of East African Flagpost.
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