Museveni’s New Year message omitted crucial information
President Museveni delivered his New Year message on December 31, 2011 from his Rwakitura country residence. Overall, it is uninspiring and defensive largely blaming everyone else but his government and himself as head of state and government and governing party for what went wrong in 2011. He even blamed torrential rains as if they alone are responsible for Uganda’s poor roads!
His message lacked vibrancy and confidence that characterized past messages when the going was relatively smooth and the international community presented Uganda as a success story.
Museveni focused on a glass half full, completely ignoring the empty half and the purpose of economic growth. He also avoided mentioning areas that would have caused him trouble such as the stolen 2011 presidential, parliamentary and local elections, the security situation in view of peaceful demonstrators and innocent people killed, wounded and detained during walk to work and other demonstrations, and the East African economic integration and political federation project which he has singled out as a top priority for his administration.
Regarding the latter, the Burundi East African community summit which was not attended by two heads of state raised troubling issues that led to a request for new guidelines to be issued, amounting to a return to the drawing board.