Presidential Address on COVID19 & Security- Verbatim

Countrymen and countrywomen.

Greetings. Today, I want to talk about two issues: immunization against corona, so that we safely open our economy fully by January 2022 and the issue of terrorism by crime orchestrated by the parasites and their supporters, inside and outside the country.

Corona descended on our country on the 21^st of March 2020, when the first case was recorded in March; however, a few days before, on the 18th of March, 2020, we had, as part of the preventive efforts, announced radical measures, including the closure of schools, closure of entertainment centres, etc., so as to prevent the congregation of the people that would have provided dry grass for the spread of the wildfire of covid-19.

As a consequence of those strong measures, it is now 19 months since the pandemic of corona entered our country and we have had only two waves while other countries have had 4 waves; we have had a total of 125,920 infections, 96,597recoveries and 3,209 deaths. The cases in hospitals today are 179 (with 95 in critical category) and the percentage of people that are found positive is today 1% instead of 20% as of May-September, 2021, when the corona spread was highest. 

While we regret the deaths that have occurred here in Uganda on account of Corona, we cannot compare them with the deaths that occurred in some of the other countries of the World as indicated here:

Moreover, most of the deaths in Uganda happened between May and September of 2021, during the second wave, caused by the indiscipline of some actors who were undermining the preventive anticongregating measures. Up to end of March, 2021, only 324 had died.

However, as I told you on one occasion, the problem in this pandemic, like in many other dieses, is not the virus, but ourselves. Why? I have told you before, that the virus has no legs to walk around and has no wings to fly. 

When somebody with corona is breathing normally, the virus will only move from the infected person for two metres. Therefore, with the use of masks and other preventive measures, this virus is easily preventable. Besides, using alcohol-based sanitizers, all the viruses on the surface, will be killed and will not, therefore, spread. On top of all this, it became clear early in the pandemic, that a vaccine against this virus could be found quickly, unlike other diseases like AIDS, where the vaccine has eluded the World for almost 40 years now. 

By the beginning of this year, Vaccines had been developed in the USA, UK, India, Russia, China, etc. Even here, we are developing our own vaccines and we are trying to liaise with other African countries to build our own pathogenic economy (wealth from the disease of our human beings, our livestock and our plants). Curing and preventing these diseases of human beings, livestock and plants, apart from saving the life-forms involved, it is also good business ─ part of wealth creation.

Initially, there were some unfortunate conduct by some actors in the world, who took the line that once the vaccines were available, they would vaccinate their people first and not bother with the other human beings. Some people were annoyed by this attitude; but I, actually, liked it. 

It should wake up Africans to know that we should always take our destiny in our own hands. As we struggle with our own vaccines and other curative efforts, vaccine from other sources, have become available through the GOU buying from willing sellers and also through some donations. Here below is the number of vaccines now available:

Many of the vaccines, need to be given twice. As seen from above, by end of December, 23,492,960 doses will have been acquired. The Johnson and Johnson vaccine is only given once. Therefore, the J&J 1,417,600 vaccines, will vaccinate that same number, while the AstraZeneca, Sinovac, Sinopharm, Pfizer and Moderna types of vaccines, will cater for 11.4million. Therefore, by the end of December, 2021, about 12.1million Ugandans will have been vaccinated, out of the total of 21 million that will have to be vaccinated. 

Most crucial is that within the 12.1million, there are the 4.8 million frontline and vulnerable categories that will act as the fire-break (kucwererera). This is the belt (road, ruhiira- burnt patch) that you create around the farm to stop wild fire from entering the farm. These 4.8m include the following:

i. Teachers         and     non-     teaching    staff     in

Educational Institutions; ii. Security personnel;

1. Health workers;
2. Market and bar workers;
3. Students of Post-Secondary Institutions;
4. Adults of age 50years and above; and
5. those below    age 50 years,   but       with comorbidities (diabetes, HIV, blood pressure, cancer, etc).

All these must be fully vaccinated by the end of December so that we open schools and the rest of the economy by January. It is now possible to do this. Resume full-throttle activities of life and economy with rational safety. Many of the vaccines needed to vaccinate the 12.1million people, including the core 4.8 million, are now available. Right now, there are 4,794,378million vaccines, enough to vaccinate 1,654,711million people and vaccinate 2,482,067million people as first dose at our current rate of vaccination. What is amazing is that I was told the other day that some categories, especially the ones above the 50years of age, are not coming forward to be vaccinated at the HCIIIs. My wonderful Ministry of Health people, had come with “donors”, our foreign friends, to help us get people to walk two miles from Mawale to Semuto, to be vaccinated!!

It is amazing how our people leave undone what they should have done and do what ought not to be done and there is no truth in them. I am now here, telling all Ugandans, that the vaccines for frontline workers and for the vulnerable categories, are available. Walk to the Health centre III or be carried there by the Bazzukulu in engozi (hammock), go by boda boda, go by bicycle or go by vehicle and be immunized. I do not believe that Ugandans would refuse to be immunized. They were simply not told. In any case, let everybody be informed, that the schools will be opened in January and the rest of the economy will be opened in that same January, 2022. Although the teachers are being vaccinated, we rejected the irresponsible idea of opening schools now, because most of the learners, are day scholars. They study and go back home every day. The children seem to manage the corona. It is the adults or those with co-morbidities, that seem to be vulnerable. It was, therefore, criminal to propose that we open schools without vaccinating the vulnerable parents and grandparents. We would have ended up losing many thousands of people. We would have ended up with the children- headed homesteads like the ones we had under AIDs – where AIDs killed many of the sexually active people, hence leaving only the children and their grandparents in their homesteads (omumaka). With corona, it would have been worse, because both parents and grandparents would die. 

That is the nosense about opening schools without wide-spread vaccination. All the complications that come with school closure ─ teenage pregnancies, loss of study time etc. ─ are reversible; but death is irreversible. Young mothers can go back to school and study. Adults can study. Dead people do not do anything.

Now that we have the vaccines, all the eligible categories, come out and be vaccinated so that we open the schools and the economy in January, 2022. Even if you do not come for vaccination, we shall open the schools and the economy in January. If anything goes wrong, if you get harmed by corona when it was wholly avoidable, the moral responsibility will be yours or that of the more informed members of your family that should lead you to what is needed. Probably, one exception, is that the political leaders in the sub- counties, could identify the Jajjas that can no longer move, whom the vaccination team could find at home. There is a picture of three days ago with my tantenkazi (Ssenga ─ paternal aunt), Erina Kakwangyire, possibly 103 years old, who confused me for a doctor when I went to see her. 

The vaccination could find those at home; but not the ones of 50years, 60 years, the Musevenis of the 70years or even those in their 80s. 

These should move to the HC III and be vaccinated. We should not over-work the vaccination teams and incur unnecessary expenses. Vaccination is the key to opening the economy. Now that the vaccines are available, the economy will be opened in January, even if some people absent themselves from the vaccination.

While I do not have authority to blame the elected leaders (LC-3 Chairpersons, Councilors, MPs, etc.), I have full authority over the sub-county chiefs, the miruka chiefs and the GISOs.  Use your contacts to ensure that all adults beyond 50 years are vaccinated as well as the other frontline workers enumerated above. If there are people not vaccinated, I will hold you accountable. I cannot over task the vaccination teams to go to people’s homes. The relatives, the sub-county chiefs, the miruka chiefs and the GISOs should be the ones to whip the people to go for the vaccination. The vaccination teams should only go for Jajjas of 95 years and beyond if they cannot really move.

Coming to the issue of terrorists using crime to undermine peace and progress, I need to remind the Ugandans of what I said on the day of Independence celebrations. I talked of the wealth creators in the form of cattle-keepers, crop growers, carpenters, blacksmiths, shop keepers, etc., that I was part of when I was growing up in Ntungamo, Kashaari, Bukaanga and Nyabushozi and the parasites, the people that do not want to do patient work, but want food and wealth without working. The latter category included Policemen, chiefs, veterinary staff, health workers that were taking bribes, teachers that were sexually exploiting school girls and other categories of people that were not part of the wealth creators. Including, later on, politicians and soldiers that were not part of wealth creation. To those, add thieves. Wealth creators, always want peace and fairness because the lack of the two, affects their wealth creation activities. The wealth creators of Ntungamo and the rest of the Ankole area, where I fully participated in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, respected and appreciated one another, because they needed one another.  The 4 Indian and 2 Arab shop-keeping families at Ntungamo brought us products that we did not have ─ textiles, cattle- salt (mahoonde), soap, gamatox – kupatox.  We, the wealth creators, did not, therefore, appreciate the expulsion of these Indians.  It was in the cotton growing areas of Uganda, that you had tension between the African cotton growers and the Indian ginners, that were cheating them.

Although it took time for issues to clear, the NRM, eventually, emerged as a major political force, always standing for the interests of wealth creators and opposing parasites. As wealth creators, we never believe in sectarianism of religion, tribe, race or gender-chauvinism ─ because many of these are wealth creators and, certainly, all of them are wealth consumers ─ they are market for the wealth creators’ products.  How and why should we be against people who buy our products and why should they be against us because we buy their products?  That is why we had no problem with the 6 Indian and Arab families at Ntungamo.  It is the parasites that are not part of this equation.

When the NRM came on to the political scene in 1965, initially as a Student Movement, we rejected the ideology and politics of sectarianism of religion or tribes and gender-chauvinism. Those pushing the opportunistic politics of sectarianism, the politics of identity rather than people’s interests (people’s needs), decided to introduce guns into the politics (the 1966 crisis, the Amin coup of 1971, the 1980 hijacking of post-Amin process, etc).  We had no alternative but to wage the armed struggle to save our cadres, the people and our ideology of patriotism, Pan-Africanist, social-economic transformation and democracy.  That is how we gained the upper hand in 1986.  When the people of Uganda had the chance to look at our ideology of the four principles, the majority appreciated it. That is how the NRM has been winning with absolute majorities (above 50%), eversince 1994, the time of the CA.

The opportunists, the parasites, became desperate.  That is how they resorted to insurgency and rural terrorism: Lakwena (though confused, she was not a terrorist); Kony; FOBA; UPA; Kirimuttu; Itoongwa; ADF; West Nile Bank Front; etc.  These were using insurgency with terrorism (indiscriminate use of violence ─ especially on soft-targets ─ un-armed civilians).  All these were defeated. 

The last to be defeated was ADF in 2007, in the Semliki National Park. ADF also tried urban bombings in the years 1997 to 2001. That campaign was defeated. ADF planted 30 bombs in the 3 years, killing 147 people by this method. Then, later, starting in the year2012, ADF started killing Moslem Sheikhs who did not agree with their confused ideology. All together, eight (8) Sheikhs were killed. Also killed by a combination of ADF and possibly other actors, were Joan Kagezi, AIGP Kawesi, Hon. Abiriga and Major Kiggundu.  There were also other murders, not connected with ADF, possibly, like the murders of women in Entebbe, Zana, Nasana and the New Year’s Day killings in Kisojjo, in the Masaka region. Some of these killers were arrested or even killed like Kiddawalime of the Kisojjo killings.  He was killed and the whole group was wiped out. Also the killers of Susan Magara, whose parents had paid the ransom demanded, were arrested and some were killed.  This was again ADF and they had quickly used the ransom money to buy land in Buikwe.  74 suspects were arrested and were put before court as a consequence of ADF actions.

Although we had some successes, I discovered that there were gaps in the Policing capacity of the country. The counter-insurgency capacity of the country, was robust and impregnable. By 2007, that capacity was fully built up. 

You could not wage insurgency in Uganda’s rural areas, whatever the terrain, successfully.  However, the Policing, anti-crime (whether terrorist or ordinary crime), had serious gaps of three types: infiltration of the Police by criminal elements that would collude with the criminals; laxity and lack of seriousness; and a serious deficit in technological capacity of the Police to handle crime.  Having studied the situation and after discussing with the Armed Forces, I made my speech before Parliament on the 20^th of June 2018, where I outlined 12 measures to rectify the situation.  That analysis should have been done by the Police leadership long ago.

It is the partial implementation of those measures, that have enabled us to achieve almost 100% success in the recent crimes. Being bankrupt and unable to study anything seriously, the ADF made the mistake of attacking Gen. Katumba on the 1^st of June, 2021.  Assisted by the partially implemented technologies, some of the actors were clearly identified and arrested. Arresting some, led to the arresting of others. Since the attack on Gen. Katumba, 5 ADF operatives have been killed and 36 suspects have been arrested. Those killed are: Nsubuga Hamidu, Lubwama Hussein (Master), Juma Saidi, Mustapha Kawawa, Serwadda Juma, Matovu Isaac who blew himself up.

The Masaka killings were by another line of criminals that, using the new capacity of the Police plus the vigilance of the wanaichi, were quickly arrested and these suspects have been brought to court.

Also, the other murders, like the one of our Ntoroko NRM Chairman, the Policeman Agaba in Mbarara, etc., have had suspects arrested quickly and some killed like the deserter who was killed the other day.

I would, therefore, like to assure the Public, that neither rural-based insurgency nor urban terrorism, will defy our capacity.  The only issue is to deal with the matter of bail. We, the freedom fighters, have never supported the issue of bail for murderers, rapists and defilers of the underage.  The present debate is good because it shows who is who and we are not going to relent until this shameful betrayal by the elements of the neocolonial elite of the masses, is defeated.  Village thefts should also not be assisted by bail. Otherwise, our anti-poverty campaigns will never succeed and mob justice will increase.

The parasites will not succeed.  The wealth creators

of this part of the world, survived the   mismanagement of the pre-colonial chiefs, survived the horrors of colonialism (forced labour ─ Kasanvu, Kiboko ─ caning), have survived the neo-colonial regimes and actors and are now, for the first time in history, organized under the NRM.  We shall defeat any scheme of the parasites, supported by whatever force ─ internal or external. Political differences among wealth creators do not have to lead to war and insecurity.  Following the coup by Obote in 1966-67, while doing temporary teaching at Buruunga Primary School, after a Sunday service, I found about 10 women, in the church lamenting about the situation of that time.  

Obote has abolished kingdoms and, to them, that was the end of the world. They told me in Runyankore: “Orahuriire ensi etaine Mugabe?” ─ “Have you ever heard of a country without a King?” I told them not to bother themselves and that, indeed, people exist without Kings. I told them of Russia, China, India, France and, indeed, Uganda itself where we had the Batembuuzi dynasty, the Bachweezi dynasty and, then, the dynasties that Obote had removed in 1967 (the Bahiinda, the Babiito, the Balangira, etc).  Since they were all wealth creators, I told them to concentrate on wealth creation.  

Although we were not supporters of Obote, I approached the UPC Government in Kampala and actually, started working with them on behalf of my wealth creators in the Ankole area and other parts of the cattle corridor. It was only when the situation became impossible to do anything constructive, that we took up arms.  I am, therefore, very happy with many actors in the Opposition that are rejecting the negative messages of some of the actors. Down with the parasites.

Finally, sympathy for the young people ─ boys and girls ─ that have been lured into ADF by the confused elements that had been mobilized by elements with Tourabi of Sudan. One of the boys we are hunting is known as “Ubaida bin Bukenya!!! Incredible!! Imagine, Bukenya of the Ngabi clan, has now become an Arab.  He was alleged to have been involved in the attack on Gen. Katumba.  When I checked, I found that he had been in the confusing centre, so called Institute, of Tourabi.  That Tourabi group, destroyed a country known as Sudan.  How can Bukenya of the Ngabi clan, be an Arab? I am Yoweri Museveni, Ruheemba Ogwe Njura, son of Kaguta of the Basiita clan.  The fact that my family joined the Christian religion in 1947, after

4.5million years of staying in Africa, does not make Museveni a Jew or an Anglo Saxon, because we received that religion from those areas.  

This is sickness. The Sheikhs need to address it.  The issue of haram. The attack on the Pork eaters at Komamboga by these confused children. Once, I told H.E. Bashir, that as a Munyankore, my list of haram (the un-eatables), is much longer than his. 

I do not eat fish, chicken, pigs, goat, sheep, etc. However, whenever our Baganda neighbours ─ Musa Kirwa, Amisi Muganzi ─ their descendants live in Kyazaanga, would visit us, we would give them the chicken we were keeping to eat insects around the kraal, the fact that we were not eating the chicken notwithstanding.  Let the Pork-eaters, eat their pork. Does pork in somebody’s stomach cause you indigestion by long distance action?  Do not bring the nonsense of others here.  This is our land. We shall protect it from all harmful nonsense.  Therefore, our grand-daughter, Rita Tesi Nabbanja and H@HH836266816 trying to say that there is an issue with Moslems, is incorrect. Many of the Moslems in Ntungamo and Ankole, were part of the Wealth creators, not part of the parasites.  Bigyega, was our butcher for the cows in the Trading Centre and also owned a hotel ─ an eating place.  KyaaraKitanaaba, Kammisi of Kakukuuru (a Munuubi) was a transporter with is Opel box-body vehicle.  The fat man Bukyenya (Bukenya), was the buyer of many of the cattle in the Ankole cattle auction markets (ebikomera ─ Kyabukuuju, Kitwe, Ntungamo, Kagarama, etc), for slaughter in Mbarara.  Therefore, the serious Bazzukulu, leave us, the wealth creators, alone. I am a live example here and can give you my experience of 74 years ─ minus the 3 years when I could not understand things so clearly. I heard that Haji Mutumba was also a cattle buyer.  If he was, ask him. He will tell you of the symbiotic relationship among the wealth creators: cultivators, cattle-keepers, shop-keepers, transporters, traders, etc. The only thing we need from the public is vigilance by reporting all suspicious people and items to the Police promptly.  According to what the Police are telling me, the public is now very vigilant and they have been reporting about suspicious abandoned items like, bags, etc.  The Police has been checking all of them, most were harmless containing clothes and other items but one had to be blasted by the bomb squad because they didn’t want to take chances.  That is the spirit.

I thank all of you.