End of Year Message, reopening of economy by President Yoweri Museveni-verbatim

Countrymen and countrywomen.

Greetings.

Congratulations for finishing the year 2021.  The two years ─ 2020 and 2021 ─ have been years of trials and tribulations, but also years of great victories and triumph.

The trials and tribulations were on account of the following:

• The locusts;

• The floods and rising levels of the waters of the Lakes (Nalubaale, Kyooga, Mwitanzigye – also known as Victoria, Kyooga and Albert);

• The land-slides in the Mountain areas;

• The floating islands, that were threatening the hydro-dams;

• And the corona virus ─ its pandemic.

Uganda, under the NRM, has overcome almost completely, the four of these.  The only exception that we are still struggling with, is the corona pandemic. Globally, the corona pandemic has infected 281,808,207 million people, 5,411,759 million people have died and 252,735,264 million people have recovered. In some of the countries, the death rates have been quite high, as shown below:

In Uganda, after almost two years of battle with corona, the total number of the infected is 139,079; those that have recovered, the number is 98,379; and those that have died, the number is 3,291.  We cannot jubilate over this, but we can also not fail to see the much smaller number of deaths here as compared to some of the other countries.  This was on account of the tough and timely measures, that we undertook that minimized the infection levels as well as the death levels.  Yet, the 3,291 we lost, were very useful people.  They included prominent persons such as Mzee Kivejinja, Mzee Paul Etyang, Manzi Tumubweine, Bishop Kaggwa, etc. May the Almighty God bless them in eternal peace.

The tough measures we took, were in order to buy time so that we find better solutions. We think now, we have found some solutions. The following are the solutions, in addition to some of the preventive measures we have been taking.

• Vaccinating the 22 million Ugandans above the age of 18 years of age, starting with the 4.8 million most vulnerable persons (3.3million above the age of 50 years, 550,000 teachers, 150,000 health workers, 250,000 security personnel and 500,000 below 50 years of age but with co-

morbidities e.g. diabetes, blood pressure, etc). Up to today, total doses administered are 11,377,067 and out of this, 3,756,248 million people have been vaccinated fully either with 2 dozes of the various vaccine types or the one vaccine of Johnson and Johnson. Of the 22million people, 45% (9,979,206) of the target population, have received at least one shot of the vaccine and 17% have been fully vaccinated. As of today, we have received a total of 20,658,940 million vaccine types that need two dozes to cover one person and 12,037,500millions of the single doze Johnson and Johnson. This means that we have already used 21,086,318 and what we have but have not used, have the capacity to vaccinate

8,503,631millions of people or to cover 6.1million people due for second dose. We are expecting another 7,319,610millions double doze vaccines, able to vaccinate 3,659,805million people and another 3,691,200 Johnson and Johnson able to vaccinate a similar number. Therefore, all the Ugandans above 18 years old, go out and be vaccinated.

• In order to ensure safety against corona, the scientists have now recommended a booster doze for those above the age of 50 years. These are 3.3millions. Therefore, the 50 years old plus persons, that have already received 2 dozes, come out, again, for the booster doze.

• Those who get suspicious signs of runny nose, headache, tiredness ─ which could be mild to severe, sneezing, scratchy/sore throat, muscle aches, quickly report to the nearest health facility, so that you get treatment.  Using some drugs that boost immunity, control fever (anti-inflammatory drugs and anti-pyretic like panadol), control inflammation, some that have anti-viral capacity and some anti-biotics, the patients recover. Early diagnosis and treatment is crucial. Late diagnosis and treatment, may suppress the virus; however, the virus will have damaged your internal organs such as lungs, heart, pancreas, brain and nerves. The virus will go, but the patient may not survive, because the internal organs, would have been irreparably damaged. 

• Ugandan scientists and the community, the latter through their ancient knowledge of the environment, have discovered substances that seem to cure corona and other viral diseases.  I have interviewed many patients, that have been cured.  Dr. Ogwang, is now trying out the medicine in a clinical setting.  We shall know the results of this clinical trial by May, 2022. This would be a path finder, in terms of medical care.

On account of those factors, we now intend to fully reopen the economy as well as educational and social activities in some staggered manner.

We shall, therefore, take the following measures as indicated below:

• The transport sector, which has been operating at

50%, will be opened fully, but with the necessary SOPs such as the wearing of masks, full vaccination by both the crew of PSV and the travelers, etc.

• The cinema halls and sports events to be allowed to operate with SOPs.

• Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary schools will be opened for learners, starting with the 10^th of January, 2021. The Ministry of Education and Sports and the Ministry of Health, to work out applicable SOPs and communicate them.

• The Performing Arts, Concerts, Bars and Discotheques, will be opened two weeks after the opening of the schools and with SOPs directed by the Ministry of Health.

• Curfew will be lifted for everybody at the time of opening for the performing arts but not for bodabodas. The bodabodas will continue to observe the curfew hours of 1900hours to 0530hours (Shaaha emwe y’ekiro to shaaha ikumi n’ emwe z’ekiro).

Some of these measures will be reversed, if Covid-19 high dependence and intensive care units bed occupancy, exceeds 50% and if the daily rate of hospitalization for severely and critically ill patients, is sustained at 30 per day for 5 days in two or more Covid-19 Treatment Units. The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds in Government hospitals are 187 and HDU (High Dependency Unit) beds are 475. The total corona virus beds are 3,100.  

The Ministries of Education and Sports, Health and Transport and Works, will give detailed plans for their opening of the respective sectors. To take one example, when all the learners were made to travel on the same day, there was alot of congestion in the busparks and car-parks.  It may be wiser to start with S1 to S3 for some days and the rest later. The Ministry will give detailed guidance and so will the other Ministries for the other sectors.

I need, however, to add that you should be answerable also for the safety of your life.  If, for instance, you are among the elderly, why do you travel?  Why not stay at home?  Why do you have to go to the bars, even if they open?  Even Church and Mosque attendances. I have never been convinced that God is only in Churches or Mosques.  Pray at home. Ruhanga ari omumyanya yoona, yoona ─ God is Omni-present, Omni-scient and Omnipotent. 

Although we are opening the economy and the social activities, as pointed out above, you should be alerted that the new Corona variant, the omin-corona, is spreading very fast. The new corona cases per day are now on average 1,250 instead of 69 per day when we had controlled the virus in the month of October, 2021.  Previously, we had some days when there were no reported corona deaths, such as on the 11^th and 12^th December, 2021, etc.  However, recently, I have started seeing reports of deaths caused by Corona per day, such as 6 deaths on the 27^th December, 2021.  Therefore, as I said above, be responsible for your life. Here, in the State House group, on account of laxity, we had recently so many cases.  In the inner circle of my workers, not less than 5 were found positive with corona on the 27^th of December, 2021.  That is why we had to postpone the meeting of the Secretary Generals of the Political Parties.  Maama Janet and myself had to have yet another corona test. Fortunately, we were negative. Why? Possibly, because our workers, while they may be lax while away from our presence, in our presence, they observe SOPs ─ masks, sanitizers, etc.  Banyankore have a practice of children running to grab adults so as to hug them in greeting. It is called kutangyirira. Since the corona outbreak, I stopped our grandchildren from doing this.  Jajjas, although you are vaccinated fully, even with a booster, let the Bazukulu keep a safe distance from you, when they come back from school. Do not greet them inside rooms. Greet them, at a safe distance, outside in the compound, with the wind blowing from you to them and not the other way.  Inside the house, do not mix.  I hope the house has a ceiling so that air from the other room, does not flow into other rooms. If it is difficult to manage, take Jajja to where he or she can be alone with one helper. A combination of vaccination, possibly covidex, the other anti-corona drugs (such as Azithromycin, Amoxicillin, etc.), the SOPs and good nutrition (e.g. vitamins such as Vitamin C which works best with Zinc), will enable us sustain our victory against this disease.

The other calamities that afflicted us, starting last year (2020), were defeated or tamed. The locusts were defeated totally, without causing any damage. The floating islands, were removed by the engineers from the Ministry of Works and UPDF. People running away from the land-slides and the rising waters of the Lakes, were given relief and are being resettled.

Then we had the problem of crime and terrorism and in fact both combined. Bijambiya operators, killed 26 people in the Masaka area.  21 suspects connected to those Bijambiyas, have been arrested and are now in the Courts of Law. Other isolated crimes, were quickly dealt with. These include the killing of the NRM Chairman of Ntoroko and the killings in the Mbarara area.  All suspects, have been arrested and are in the Courts of Law. The ADF terrorists had kept quiet since the arrest of Jamil Mukulu, now in Luzira. However, in June, this year, characteristic to their shallow miscalculation, on the orders of their leaders who had made parts of Eastern Congo an area of their control, tried to assassinate General Katumba Wamala. Katumba survived, but his daughter and driver were killed. This was the ADF’s greatest mistake. They did not know, that since my 2018 twelve (12) points anti-crime plan, we had partially up-graded our anti-crime infrastructure. With patient analysis, the Police identified some of the criminals. We started arresting them and those who tried to fight during arrest, were killed. Up to now, inside Uganda, a total of 12 of these criminals have been killed and a total of 113 have been arrested and many of them are in the Courts of Law.  As we were hunting them and arresting them, in their foolishness, they sent a group to Pader, to plant a bomb during the burial of Lt.

General Lokech, apparently, because he had devotedly hunted them after the attack on Katumba. More of them, thus exposing themselves, were arrested and some were killed. In a rush, they started trying to plant bombs in Kampala. With the Police hotly in pursuit, they planted a bomb at Komamboga among Pork eaters, another one in the bus and the two, on the 16^th of November, 2021, one at the CPS and another one at Parliament Avenue. A total of 05 Ugandans were killed in these bombs without counting the 3 bombers who were blown up by their own bombs.

On account of the partially improved anti-crime infrastructure, the Police knows almost everybody that is involved in these crimes ─ whether inside Uganda ─ on the run or in hiding ─ or abroad.  

Their headquarters, definitely, has been in Eastern Congo for more than 20 years. It is a syndicate of crime succored by the absence of Government authority, in some parts of Congo. These terrorists, have been making money in Eastern Congo and using it to finance terrorism in Eastern Congo by routinely massacring Congolese, orchestrating terrorism within

Uganda and funding terrorism as far afield as

Mozambique.  It is pathetic to listen to the sick talk of these disoriented young people, claiming to be fighting Bakafiiri (us Ugandans), in order to make Uganda a country governed by “Sharia law”. At the right time, we shall publicize this information so that Ugandans can see the tragedy of Africa. We had, of course, met, before, such sick-minded confused people in Somalia and on the border with Sudan (Kaaya, etc.) and shown those groups how the people they call Bakafiiri can defend the land of their ancestors, Africa. I am Yoweri Museveni, son of Amosi Kaguta, grandson of Kabuguma Ka Nyinachweende Rubaraza, etc., etc., of the Basiita clan, of the Bagahe cluster of clans and part of what is now Uganda is a land of my ancestry and no foreigner or foreign agent, will ever take this land from the indigenous people of Uganda. Yes, since the 1840s, foreign religions, starting with Islam, started coming to our area ─ this part of the Great Lakes. The Protestants came in 1877 and the Roman Catholics in 1879. Immediately, those foreigners and their agents, started those unhealthy rivalries. Instead of faithfully preaching the core and good messages of those religions, such as “Love God with all your might and Love your neighbour as you love yourself” (in the Book of Mathew 22:39) and: “how can you say you Love God whom you have never seen, but you hate your neighbor?” (In the Book of 1 John 4:20), by 1890, these confused actors, had divided Ugandans into 3 groups: “Bafransa” (Frenchmen – Catholics), “Ba-ingleza” (Englishmen – Protestants) and “the Mohammedans” (the Moslems). Vicious armed wars, were fought among these groups for much of the 1890s. Read the Books of Bishop Tucker, Captain Lugard, Colonel Colville and others and see the tragedy that was being played out among our people by these confused actors claiming to be working for God. Of course, the original mistake was the failure of our own people ─ Mwanga, Apollo Kaggwa, Ntare, Mbaguta, Kabareega, etc., who failed to unite and chase these confused actors.  Anyway, this unhealthy rivalry, unprincipled conflicts, went on up to the time of Independence and beyond.  It is the NRM, that came to challenge them. Earlier actors, like IK Musaazi, tried unsuccessfully, to unite Ugandans.   We are glad that Ugandans listened to our message and rallied to the standard of the NRM for the last 43 years ─ 1978 (during the anti-Amin war) up to today around the principles of: patriotism (love Uganda, mwoyo gwa Uganda), love Africa (mwoyo gwa Africa ─ Pan-Africanism), social-economic transformation (building a first world society away from the precapitalist society we inherited in 1986) and democracy (Government by the people, for the people and of the people). The economy has grown, the infrastructure has expanded, the population has increased, more people are educated, the children are dying less, people are living longer, some families are richer, everybody has got a telephone or more in his pocket, etc. It is this unity, partial prosperity and general progress, that these confused parasites are fighting.  Such groups, working for or with foreigners, or taking advantage of some situations, are sowing mayhem in different parts of Africa: Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Central Africa, Chad, DRC, Mozambique, Somalia, etc.

This is the context into which the criminal acts of the ADF terrorists find themselves in Eastern Congo and their acts in Uganda. What these traitors forget, is that the African Revolution, led by new actors (Patriots) and not the traditional chiefs that failed to guarantee our independence from the imperialists, has been in motion since 1912, when the ANC was founded in the town of Bloemfontein of South Africa. By the 1950s and 1960s, the African Resistance had created additional chapters to the first one of ANC in South Africa. We should, of course, not forget the

Afro-American chapter, led by people like Du Bois and

Marcus Garvey, who started the idea of the PanAfrican Movement. By the 1950s and 1960s, the different chapters of the African Resistance were being led by people like Nkrumah, Nyerere, Kaunda,

Kenyatta, Sekou Toure, Modibo Keita, Ben-Bella, Gamal Abdul Nasser, etc. The Pan-African Movement, being part of the global anti-colonial movement, caused the clever imperialists to peacefully withdraw from Africa by granting Independence to 36 African States by 1963 when the newly independent African countries met in Addis Ababa to form the

Organization of African Unity (OAU). The un-clever imperialists such as the Portuguese, Ian Smith and the South African Boers, thought that they could block the march of African freedom. The various chapters of African Patriots, moved the OAU to declare that if the remaining Imperialists did not go peacefully, they would be defeated militarily.  The arrogant imperialists, thought that this was mere African hot air. By 1993, all the imperialists in Africa, had been defeated by the coordinated actions of the African freedom fighters in the respective African colonies (Mozambique, Guinnea-Bissau, Angola, Sao Tome and Principe, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia as they were calling it, Namibia and South Africa); the different chapters of the Patriots and Pan-Africanists in some of the Independent African countries; the socialist countries (USSR, China, Cuba, etc.); and the progressive forces in the West (e.g. Sweden, Norway, Finland, etc., as well as some individuals such as Lord Fenner Brockway, Sir Dingle Foot, etc). Even people like Margaret Thatcher played a positive role, towards the end as did President Jimmy Carter in the Angola crisis of 1976.

This shows that once the different chapters of the African Patriots co-operate and co-ordinate, there is no force that can defeat us on the African continent.  Therefore, all and sundry, should know, that once the chapters of the African Resistance co-ordinate, there is no security or defence problem they cannot solve. The recent co-ordination between the Government of DRC and Uganda is such an example.  Starting on the 30^th of November, the UPDF launched a devastating attack on the long established camps of the ADF terrorists.  Many of these terrorists were killed.  Then, after repairing the Busuunga-Semliki bridge road, the UPDF advanced to the Semliki bridge camp. Out of the Semliki camp, the UPDF advanced in the forest to the terrorists’ Kambi Ya Jua, which they occupied after light resistance.  In all these operations, UPDF did not lose a single soldier by enemy action.  The two soldiers who died, Pte. Lugingi Nicholas and Pte. Kapulyaka Mustafa by names, died on account of selfinflicted accidental self-injury.  One, on account of an RPG that was loaded and corked and the other one, from MGLs (Multiple Grenade Launchers) fired while in the middle of trees.  They had not been thoroughly briefed.

The terrorists are now fleeing and killing villagers.  That will not save them.  If the Congolese Government allows us, we shall hit them even if they go up to Kisangani or Buta or beyond.  Their only choice is to surrender so that the peoples of Congo and Uganda have peace and they also get rehabilitated and learn how to earn an honest living in the four sectors of commercial agriculture, small industries, services and ICT, instead of being parasites on the population.   Similarly, the numerous security problems in other parts of Africa, can be resolved by the different chapters of the African Patriots co-operating. The respective chapters of African Patriots have developed great capacity ─ much more than the situation in 1974 when the African Armies of Mozambique, Angola and Guinnea-Bissau, defeated the Portuguese imperialists.

I have heard some voices among the Moslems, claiming that the Moslems are neglected and that they cannot borrow money because of riba (profitsinterest) which is haram (ekihagaro) among the Moslems. The first point is certainly not true. Who built the Islamic University in Uganda?  Who liberalized trade (taking the Government out of trading) and the hotel business where many Moslem businessmen benefitted? How did the successful Moslems come up? It is on account of the peace and policies brought by the NRM. The story of riba, is only half of the story. Yes, Islamic banking has been legalized but not yet operationalized. However, many of the pro-poor Government programmes are not loans but grants (Government okuwa obuwi).  OWC distribution of free seedlings, my Nakyoobe’s skilling programmes and grants for capital for shoe-making, tailoring, weaving, etc., managed by my Moslem daughter, Faridah Mayanja, are not loans but grants.  Where is riba there? I will check on my Kisozi programmes of Nalwanga.  I am sure Moslem families there benefitted from those grants of seedlings, goats, may be not pigs, heifers, etc.  The problem is that some of the spiritual, cultural and political leaders, do not advise their followers to listen to the NRM message of wealth creation and social-economic transformation.  I have not heard many political, spiritual, cultural leaders, etc., supporting my policy of free education for the children of the poor.  I am always shouting but I do not hear many taking up this struggle. Is free education riba?

The economy of Uganda grew last year at the rate of 3.4% and at the rate of 3.8% this financial year, the corona restrictions notwithstanding. The greatest point to remember is to end the phenomenon of the Abakolera ekidda kyoonka (subsistence production ─ only working for the stomach).  Since the 1960s, we have been fighting this phenomenon. By 2013, a whole 68% of the homesteads of Uganda were Abakolera ekidda kyoonka (tic me ice keken).  I must salute the OWC officers that, on my orders, intervened in distributing inputs of coffee, tea, fruits, etc. UBOS has now said that the homesteads of the Bakolera ekidda kyoonka, are now only 39%. This is the first time in all human history, when the majority of Ugandans, have joined the money economy. I decided to remove the OWC from the distribution of seedlings, this success notwithstanding. Why? 

No. 1, some of the commanders had gone into the business of having beds for seedlings ─ they had become businessmen on personal basis in an effort in which they were supposed to be neutral.

No. 2, it was becoming unwise for our soldiers to be involved in the distribution of items of Government support to the Wanainchi. Arguments about favouritism were becoming ubiquitous. “Begabila bokka”, was becoming a frequent complaint in public meetings.

No. 3, the soldiers would, sometimes, take the seedlings, damp them at the Gombolola Sub-county and leave them there, not bothering whether they will be planted in gardens or left to dry-up and be lost. 

In order to remove these areas of misunderstandings, we decided to put the total responsibility in the hands of the stakeholders ─ the beneficiaries through the Parish Development Model (PDM). The Government money will be sent to their SACCOs and they will buy seedlings or whatever they want to buy, provided it is on the list of the recommended crops that are high value and have a market within Uganda, within the Region, within Africa and the World. We have opted for the owner ─ controlled formula, instead of the programme being controlled by Public Servants (whether soldiers or not). This PDM is for the former 68% of the homesteads (the 29% bazukufu and the 39% still asleep).  With 32% of the population that were already in the money economy by 2013, we urge them to be more industrial in agriculture, mining, etc. and also do more value addition.

Take we the cattle-keepers, who semi-modernized by adopting the dairy industry where milk was commercialized instead of okukolera ekidda kyoonka as we had done for centuries and adopting the exotic breeds of Friesians, etc.  This has helped and changed the area completely.  The other day, Maama Janet and myself, were going for the National Task Force on Corona meeting at a nearby primary school and saw a large number of cars at a home.  It was a marriage something. Since our campaign of 1966, the former nomads, had joined the money economy and all the cars we saw were theirs.  However, they will be much richer if they abandon the free-range method (okuseetura) to zero-grazing. With zero-grazing, using planted grass that is cut and fed to the cattle in the shed, one acre will support eight Friesian cattle per year.  Hence, a square mile, will support 640 x 8 = 5,120 cattle.  With the present free-range, you need 3 acres per adult cow, in a year. Therefore, a square mile will only support 200 cattle well.  This is wastage.  It is under-utilization of the land and stunting our economic growth.

Bananas are another example of the need to modernize in order to stop the under-utilization of the land we have. The average yield per hectare of bananas is between 5 and 10tonnes per year in the villages. Dr. Muranga, however, at Nyaruziinga, she harvests 53tonnes per hectare. They say that in

Brazil, they have gone to 80 tonnes per hectare. This need for modernization in production methods: good seedlings, spacing, water retention methods, wind breaks, irrigation, fertilizer use, is not only for cattle and bananas, but for all the crops: coffee, tea, fruits, irish potatoes, cassava, vegetables, etc.

Finally, on the wider economy, we intend to help businesses by lowering costs of production by dealing with the 3 cost pushers.  The three cost pushers are: transport (rail and water); electricity; and money for industries, agriculture and some services (e.g. tourism, education ─ private schools, some of the professional services such as private doctors, engineers, etc). We are determined to build the Standard Gauge Railway from Malaba to KampalaKasese-Gulu and Nimule. We are already repairing the old railway line for short-term and medium-term use.  We are encouraging private investment in water transport on the Lakes in addition to the expanding fleet of Government vessels such as Mv Sigulu, Mv Buvuma, Albert Nile 1, Kyoga 2, Mv Obongi, Ms. Laropi, Mv Bisina, Mv Masindi, etc. In future, much of the transport for cargo should be by rail and water.

On the side of electricity, we are transmitting electricity directly to the industrial parks without going through any middlemen. This will cut 37.5% from the cost.  The cost of production of the electricity for the dams is low as follows:

• Nalubaale           –        1.19US cents
• Kiira                              –        1.19US cents
• Karuma               –        4.97US cents
• Isimba                 –        4.16US cents

It is only Bujagaali that was distorted to US cents 8.3per Kwh. By by-passing the middlemen, we shall give cheaper electricity to the factories.

The high interest rates of the Commercial Banks is on account of two actors: the Commercial Banks wanting high profits and not caring about the wanainchi and Government (Finance) giving high priced treasury bills to the world in order to borrow from the public.  We have discussed this distortion. We should minimize borrowing by the Government. We, each year, pay Ug. Shs. 15.16trillion as debt repayment and Shs. 4.9trillion of this is interest ─ i.e. money that was never used in our country. We now know where the problem of high interest rates is coming from. It will, gradually, be addressed. Kija omanyi, kinyaga bitono (the enemy you are prepared for, loots little).

The corona lockdown has affected some sectors of the economy badly. Such sectors are: entertainment, hospitality, tourism, the private schools, etc.  

With the opening of the economy, the two sources of support for such sectors are the Parish Development Model in case some of the actors want to go back to the villages and to use their land commercially or emyooga.  The 18 myooga, cover most of the activities of the Ugandans that are non-agricultural. Let all Ugandans agree with my proposal to put more money in the PDM and emyooga. The categories not covered by emyooga, such as the bar operators, will be addressed separately. Ministry of Finance will work on that group.

I cannot end this address without highlighting for the Ugandans the little comedy that was played out recently when we had by-elections in different parts of Uganda for some Local Government positions on the 16^th of December, 2021. Was it comedy or tragedy?  The positions for by-elections in the whole country were 827. They included One LCV Chairperson, LCIII Chairpersons, Municipality Councillors, District Councillors and LC 3 and Town Council Coucillors.

The NRM won 392 of them unopposed.  With where the NRM had to compete with other Parties, plus the unopposed, the NRM won as shown here below as compared to the other Parties:

• NRM                             –        678
• Independents      –        103
• DP                        –            7
• UPC                     –            7
• NUP                              –          13
• FDC                     –          19

The NRM’s direct share was 82%.  However, many of the Independents were also NRM on account of their internal wrangles. Therefore, the pro-NRM sentiment, won a total of 94%. The others won as follows:

The tragic-comedy in the affair had 3 elements.  Element no. 1, for NUP and their media supporters, including the foreign ones, there was no Uganda but Kayunga.  Kayunga, Kayunga, Kayunga!! 

The second element was our young people in the persons of Nakwedde, Zaake, etc., putting it in their heads that they would not allow the old man with a hat, Ssabalwanyi, to peacefully drive from Kampala and address the NRM leaders at Kayonza Church of Uganda Primary School in Bbale and at Busaana Sub-county play-ground.  Of course, the Police could not allow that.  Hence, there were some skirmishes. This is exactly what NUP did in the General Elections in some areas and what they were planning to do in the whole country if we had not deployed a considerable portion of the UPDF to crush that conspiracy. The idea is to create fear so that the massive supporters of the NRM do not come out to vote.

You remember Arua where they even stoned my car and Bobi Wine was driving a grader (tinga tinga) into my convoy.  This is self-deception.  It cannot work in Uganda.  I have given, in writing, guidelines to the Armed Forces to firmly and professionally ensure law and order and discipline in our society. I hereby direct our Media Unit to publicize these guidelines so that the Public is also informed and can knowledgeably audit the actions of the security forces and inform us, if there are departures. Moreover, these guidelines are in line with the Standing Orders of the Police Forces, both here and in many countries.

The third element of tragic-comedy were the protestations by NUP that Muwonge of NRM had won by cheating. I did not know that NRM actors had enough energy to cheat because most of the time they are asleep and allow the opposition to intimidate people, cheat, etc.  Why only cheat in Kayunga?  Why not in the few other areas where NUP won?  Kayunga, Buganda and the whole of Uganda are, politically, NRM territory. Why? It is because the NRM has done more for those areas than anybody else, the internal weaknesses within NRM, notwithstanding. We are handling the internal weaknesses, including corruption. The opportunistic opposition will be wiped out. Those concerned with ballot stuffing, etc., why do they never support my plan for only electronic voting with thumb-prints? It is the opposition and their collaborators, that always avoid voting electronically.  We should amend the law to stop all non-electronic voting.  That is what democrats should be demanding.

I salute all of you and wish you a Happy and Prosperous 2022.