SPEECH
BY
H.E. YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
ON HEROES’ DAY
AT
KOLOLO INDEPENDENCE GROUNDS
9TH JUNE, 2022
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Countrymen, Countrywomen and the Bazukulu.
Greetings. I congratulate you all for reaching the 41 st
Heroes’ Day Celebrations. In my Martyrs’ Day
Speech of 3rd June, 2022, I equated the heroism and
valor of the 9 NRM supporters, who were brutally
hacked to death by Bazilio Okello at Kikandwa, to
that of the Uganda Martyrs. These 9 heroes were:
Edidian Lutamaguzi, Nkangirwa Matayo, Sentogo
Sebastian, Gitta, Kibuuka, Kirumira Edrisa, Sebowa
and Kibirige. Despite the threat of death, they
declined to reveal the hideout of the NRA guerrilla
unit under the command of Jack Muchunguzi. It
was in honor of the memory and legacy of these
patriots; and many others, that we declared 9th of
June, a Heroes’ Day.
This year’s celebrations are being held under the
theme, “Commemorating our Heroes and
Heroines: An Opportunity to Consolidate our
Efforts in Securing Uganda.” This is a befitting
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theme because it recognizes the sacrifices of our
heroes and heroines, both living and dead; and
challenges every Ugandan to shoulder the patriotic
duty of securing the gains of our struggles.
Following his visit to Uganda and other parts of
Africa, in 1907, the Secretary of Colonies and former
British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, wrote a
book, My African Journey (1908), in which he made
the following observation: “Uganda is the Pearl.”
This foreigner, who had traversed many parts of the
world, singled out Uganda as being “the Pearl”
(Eluulu, ekkula) in Africa’s crown (engure).
However, by the time the NRM captured power in
1986, Uganda- “the Pearl,” had been thrown into
turmoil and destruction by bankrupt regimes and
leaders. The Bible is clear in the Gospel of St.
Matthew, in chapter 7, verse 6. It is written: “Do not
give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet,
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and turn and tear you in pieces.” (New King James
Version)
Our struggles, starting with the student groups in
the mid-1960s; following Amin’s coup in 1971; in
the war of 1979 and rigged elections of 1980; in the
war of resistance (1981-1986); and in the period
since 1986 to-date, have been about rescuing
Uganda from “swine”/pigs, devoid of the capacity to
appreciate and keep what is valuable and precious.
The NRM is the only political group that has made a
correct diagnosis of Uganda’s problems. How can
you come up with a right cure without conducting a
credible assessment of a patient?
You would be dismissed as a quack doctor.
Ugandans endured “quack political actors” from
1962 to 1986. Mwalimu Nyerere described this
period as “Uganda’s lost decades”. The NRM
identified 10 strategic bottlenecks to Uganda’s social
evolution from a pre-capitalist society to a modern
and prosperous country. They were:
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1)Ideological disorientation ─ i.e. emphasizing
the politics of identity, e.g. tribes, religion,
gender etc. instead of championing the peoples’
interests;
2)As a result of the above, we ended up with a
weak State. It was not possible to build an
Army, etc.;
3)The under-development of the human
resource ─ no education for the people and poor
health;
4)Poor infrastructure (e.g. roads, railways,
electricity, internet, piped water, telephones,
etc.), which causes high costs of doing business
in an economy, which factor undermines the
profitability of companies and discourages the
private-sector;
5)Lack of industrialization and export of raw-
materials, which denies us the value of the final
product ─ being donors for foreigners;
6)A small market that cannot guarantee our
prosperity;
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7)The under-developed services sector ─ e.g.
tourism;
8)The under-development of agriculture,
subsistence agriculture ─ moneylessness;
9)The mistake of fighting the private-sector by
Obote and Amin and the present corrupt officials
who delay investors asking for bribes; and,
10) Finally, suppression of democracy, which
denied our people a voice.
Since 1986, the NRM has made significant progress
in tackling the above problems. We have stamped
out the negative politics of identity; built a patriotic
and Pan-African army to defend our country;
improved the human resources through mass
immunisation and UPE and USE programmes;
improved the infrastructure; modernised agriculture;
promoted the private sector to be the engine of
economic growth and consolidated democratic
governance and public accountability.
We have established the necessary economic base
for Uganda’s development and socio-economic
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transformation. However, development alone is not
enough; though it must come first. Development is a
collective good; but wealth and jobs belong to
individuals, families, groups or companies. We
should not have spectators in the drive towards
increasing the household incomes, to make sure
that the 39% of the households that are still trapped
in subsistence farming, i.e. working only for the
stomach, become wealth producers and job creators
through commercial and modernised agriculture.
Therefore, we must prioritize the creation of jobs and
wealth for the households. There are four sectors
where households can focus to create jobs and
wealth. The four sectors are: commercial agriculture;
industries (big or small); services (hotels, transport,
professional services, shops, etc.); and ICT (Business
Process Outsourcing ─BPOs); etc.
The leadership of the NRM remains committed to
principle number two of our 4 principles vision,
which is Pan-Africanism. We cannot be satisfied with
Uganda’s small market of only 42 million people.
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This cannot guarantee our prosperity. This is why
we support the integration of the East African and
African market of 1.2 billion people. A bigger market
is good news for Uganda’s surplus commodities, i.e.
sugar, maize, milk, cement, steel bars etc.
Finally, I want to use this occasion of Heroes’ Day to
remind the African freedom fighters that our safety
and security as a black race remain in jeopardy as
long as we continue to glorify the small and weak
African states. We must end the balkanization of the
African people to guarantee their security and total
liberation.
I thank you all and wish you happy Heroes’ Day
Celebrations.
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