President Yoweri Museveni is today expected to address the country regarding the New Year’s plans.
Through his official social media platforms, Museveni said: “I will deliver my New Year message to the country on Tuesday, December 31 at 5:00 pm.”
The message will be broadcast and aired on all media houses in the country. With Vision Group, Museveni’s 2020 message will be aired on all its platforms which include television, radio, print and social media platforms. As a tradition, there are issues one expects to be addressed in his 2020 message. These include employment, security and the economy.
In the 2018 address, which ushered us into 2019, Museveni presented nine talking points. His message was on the economy, youth development and employment, crime, political discipline, regional integration, and corruption.
President Museveni also talked about political leaders serving as examples in wealth creation, irrigation and land evictions.
On crime, Museveni said: “The third issue I would like to comment on is a crime. In my address to the Parliament of June 20, 2018, I outlined the 12-action points that we are undertaking and we shall undertake to immunize our country against the crime that spiked, especially in towns.”
One of the interventions that were proposed included installing street cameras in the Kampala metropolitan area and the exercise is still ongoing. At the moment, several streets have surveillance cameras and they have been used to identify criminals in the city.
On the eve of 2019, Museveni underscored the importance of the country securing the current stability as a bedrock for the upward economic trajectory by promising to crack the whip on double-faced politicians that have a leg in both constitutional and unconstitutional politics.
On the issue of political indiscipline, Museveni was explicit that he is amenable to healthy political contestation through putting alternative ideas to the electorate to decide during elections.
He, however, said there are those who “behave in a double-faced way where you have one leg in constitutional politics (Parliament, Municipality, District council) and another in un-constitutionalism (Okuremesa, Okuseketerera, Okutemura, etc.,).”
He said this cannot be allowed.
“Therefore, those who are not clear on this point should get it clearly. Ugandan patriots have invested a lot of energy in creating stability in Uganda. Nobody will be allowed to destabilize this. Nobody should expect that we shall tolerate anybody diverting the country with indiscipline verging on criminality,” Museveni said.
He also spoke about the fight against corruption and vowed to root out the vice, saying it is a war that is winnable. Museveni promised to be tough, warning corrupt civil servants that they are not indispensable since the country has enough qualified personnel.
“I can sack 10,000 civil servants today and replace them the same day,” Museveni said warned that the government was going to clean up the civil service.
Museveni vowed to protect the elderly, the people who led the liberation struggle or their descendants, from land eviction using all available legal means to defend them.