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New Vision (Kampala)
October 31, 2003 Posted to the web October 31, 2003
Okello Jabweli Kampala
THE political future of Uganda will be decided by the people, President Yoweri Museveni has said.
In an article he sent to the New Vision yesterday, the President refuted recent claims that he intends to cling to power when his present constitutional term expires.
Museveni, said he was even prepared to resign today if he realised that his services were not required for the future of Uganda or Africa.
He said the constitutional review will go on in all its aspects and that nobody would stop it.
"All issues will be decided on democratically, as the Constitution and the relevant laws provide. There may be aspects one likes and others one does not like. However, if it will be decided democratically, so it will be. That is what democracy is all about - the people's will; not the politicians' will," Museveni said.
"When the time comes, I will come out (along with those who think like me) and advocate for any position we think to be in the interest of the country. Our aim will be to convince the people in their entirety, or the relevant organs, to see our point of view. If the people accept our point of view and say so in a democratic exercise, so it will be. If they do not agree with our view, so it will be."
He warned those he called unprincipled leaders against issuing threats over the constitutional review process.
The article is a rebuttal of an earlier story which quoted him as saying the more his opponents pushed him, the more he thought of staying on.
"Vacating power for Museveni is not a problem. I can even resign today if I saw that my services are not required for the future of Uganda or the strategic future of Africa. NRM vacating power, however, is another proposition. NRM is the only Ugandan group that has evolved a vision for the country.
"We shall work with all our means to ensure that NRM continues to lead Uganda for a long time as long as it continues to have a superior vision vis-a-vis the other groups," he said.
"Nevertheless, what I told the lawyers remains valid. What Africa is crying for is a vision, not just leaders taking turns at leadership. We shall mobilise the people of Uganda like never before by explaining to them the issues involved.
"We shall expose the bankruptcy of the anti-NRM and anti-Museveni groups. We shall, democratically defend right and oppose wrong. It is our democratic right to do so. Nobody can stop this. We shall not compromise the fundamental interests of our country's future because of opportunists," he said.
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