Stop manipulation and lectures to societies different from yours, Museveni tells West

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Museveni, who has long struck a tone of defiance towards Western pressure, said there was need to exploit the 2.4 billion population of commonwealth nations to expunge chauvinistic ideas.

Speaking barely a week after US removed Uganda from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade pact, President Museveni has rallied Commonwealth nations to reject what he repeatedly called “evil imperialism.”

On Thursday, the Ugandan leader appeared to criticize the West for attempting to impose their agenda on people in foreign territories, leading to global crises.

“Stop manipulation and lectures to the societies that are different from yours,” Museveni told a gathering at the opening ceremony of the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC2024) in Kampala.

A general view of some foreign speakers and presiding officers with delegates attending the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC2024) on January 4, 2024. PHOTO/HANDOUT

Museveni further blamed “philosophical, ideological and strategic shallowness” for the ongoing crisis in the Middle East- marked by a war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following a bloody October 7 attack on Israel.

“The crisis could be traced back to Roman imperialism when they dispersed the Jews. Up to now, we’re dealing with a mistake of the Romans. What were they doing in the Middle East?” he remarked as he decried “foreign and local actors who miscalculate and seek to monopolize and use knowledge to oppress others.”

A general view of a section of attendees of the official opening ceremony of the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC2024) in Kampala on January 4, 2023. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA

Museveni, who has long struck a tone of defiance towards Western pressure, said there was need to exploit the 2.4 billion population of commonwealth nations to expunge chauvinistic ideas.

“Interactions between the colonizer and colonized, although negative for most of the times, also had their positive sides that should be built on for mutual benefits.”

“Let us concentrate on utilizing the progress of man in the struggle against the oppression of man by nature rather than using that progress in science and technology for parasitism,” he noted.

Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja (R) and her 3rd deputy Gen Moses Ali (L) attend the official opening day of the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC2024) in Kampala on January 4, 2024. PHOTO/HANDOUT

Concluding his remarks, Museveni highlighted need for global powers to value the sovereignty of other states.

“If you try to use knowledge to oppress others, they also strive to acquire knowledge to catch up and defeat you,” he emphasized, before calling on the world to “concentrate on utilizing the progress of man in the struggle against oppression of man by nature, rather than using that progress in science and technology for parasitism.”

CSPOC runs until January 6 in Uganda's capital.