By Max Patrick Ocaido
President Yoweri Museveni has called opposition leaders who ignore the welfare of their people as “useless.”
Museveni said that he did most of the good work for his people while he was still in opposition before taking power in 1986. He urged opposition politicians to emulate his character to work selflessly towards improving the livelihood of the people.
“Don’t tell me that because you are not in NRM you can’t help your people. Rubbish. If you are in opposition and you are not helping your people then you are useless,” Museveni said.
He added, “You don’t need to be in government to help your people. I was in opposition in 1966 and I was very relevant to the community.”
Museveni said this while delivering the State of the Nation Address (SOTN) at Serena Hotel in Kampala in accordance with article 101 (1) of the Constitution.
He added that he was pro-active in the early 1960s despite being in the opposition camp.
“I hear people screaming "DP, DP." DP without Museveni is not there. Even UPC. I joined [UPC] briefly for five months. I tried to help the elder [Obote] but his people were not helping him so we had to do other things,” Museveni said.
In his Address, Museveni said that Uganda’s economic growth and development outlook is positive with the economy projected to grow at, at least 7% in the medium term. He attributed this growth to increased industrialization, production and productivity of the agricultural sector and commencement of oil and gas production and work on oil pipeline and refinery.
“I agree that the cost of doing business is still in Uganda. To address this challenge, the government will continue to prioritize infrastructure investment in energy, transport, water, and ICT,” Museveni said.
