Museveni Says East African Integration good for Uganda

By Kampala Post Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni says it is important for Uganda to integrate with East Africa, since it provides a bigger market for Uganda’s goods.

The president noted that small market is a hindrance to prosperity. “Integrating Uganda with East Africa and Africa is very important as part of the measures that have to be undertaken so as to ensure a sustainable market for our goods,” he said.

The President was on Friday delivering an opportunity lecture to 297 Officer Cadets, including 56 from Somalia, who will soon conclude their one-year course at the Uganda Military Academy at Kabamba in Mubende District. The President said that many people get into problems mainly because of ideology and strategy.

He emphasised that there must always be accurate diagnosis, informing the soldiers that the African continent has always had a challenge of misdiagnosis. Museveni observed that Africa was conquered by colonialism because of the internal weaknesses that the continent suffered at the time.

He  noted that the continent was not able to defend itself against colonialists because the African kings of the time failed to have a correct diagnosis, subsequently resulting in their (Kings’) making wrong prescriptions.

The president said that Europeans used Africa to solve their challenges back home in Europe because Africans ended up liberating Europe from poverty through the provision of free African labour through slave trade. He noted that because of fronting sectarianism, the African kings ended up laying fertile ground for the conquest of Africa by colonialism.

He reminded the Officer Cadets that the major issue before Africa now is prosperity for the people of Africa, their families and the countries that can be realized through hard work. Further elaborating on the issue of sectarianism, the President said that a sectarian person is an enemy of the people adding that the vital issue is to address the interests of the people.

He called for patriotism and love of one’s country. He criticized people who are consumed by gender chauvinism stressing that many women have fallen easy prey to the vice. Museveni revealed that the NRM Government came out fully to combat chauvinism by promoting women seats in Parliament.

The Commandant of the Kabamba Barracks, Brig. Emmanuel Musinguzi thanked President Museveni and Commander-in-Chief of Uganda Armed Forces for the wise counsel to the trainees through lectures.