At 82, Museveni says his next 18 years will be devoted to African integration
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is hopeful that he will live for another 18 years to reach 100 and is optimistic that his appeal will help leave Africa united and on a path of unstoppable growth.
In his 82nd post-birthday message, which he published on his official X account yesterday, Mr Museveni said he would use the remaining 18 years of his life, if granted by God, to spread the message of African integration.
“In those remaining years, I appeal to the Africans, if they want to avoid future calamity, to work on the 3 historical missions not yet attained: …prosperity for the Africans through integrating the African common market, strategic security against all threats through the political integration, and the brotherhood of the four linguistic groups of the 1.5bn Africans,” he said.
By integrating the African common market, Mr Museveni believes there will be prosperity across Africa because it will help wealth creators expand, supported by strategic security against all threats through political integration of the continent where possible, such as is the case with the East African Federation.
“…in all this using undugu (the brotherhood) of the four linguistic groups of the 1.5bn Africans- the Niger-Congo (the Bantu and Kwa), the Nilo-Saharan (Cushitic, Nilotic, etc.), the Afro-Asiatic (Arabic, Tigrinya, Amhara) and the Khoisan. It is the fulfilment of these historical missions that will guarantee our prosperity and strategic security,” he said.
Besides preaching national unity, President Museveni has spent a significant portion of his years advocating Pan-Africanism and the integration of the African continent. In his numerous speeches, Mr Museveni has repeatedly said Africa can only grow and overcome its challenges if countries unite in areas such as politics, economics and social development.
About two years before the National Resistance Army rebel outfit led by the then 42-year-old Museveni took power, the now National Resistance Movement (NRM) unveiled a 10-point programme in 1984 that it envisaged would guide the future management of the country.
But besides the nine points focusing on Uganda’s internal affairs, Mr Museveni and his colleagues included a point in the 10-point programme focusing on African affairs.
The point largely focused on cooperation with other African countries in defending the human and democratic rights of “our brothers” in other parts of Africa.
Years later, Uganda has worked not only for regional integration but also continental integration.
For example, in East Africa, Uganda is a member of the East African Community (EAC), which officials regard as a step towards integration.
Uganda has also been involved in liberation efforts in Rwanda, DR Congo and Sudan. Most members of the ruling Rwanda Patriotic Front were formerly with the NRA, later UPDF, while some of those who fought to oust Mobutu from Congo and those who fought for South Sudan’s independence received assistance from Uganda.
Beyond East Africa, Uganda has also participated in peacekeeping missions in Somalia, among others.
The President has, on several occasions, said local markets, such as Uganda’s surplus milk, maize and sugar, are too small and that increased production requires ekibaaro (calculation), sustainable output and wider regional and continental markets to generate jobs and wealth.
“We need to be closer to our brothers from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, DRC and Sudan so that we talk to them to open their borders so that goods can move freely. Whoever produces something good can easily sell in each other country’s market,” Mr Museveni, who was born September 15, 1944 told leaders in 2020.
During the Global Refugee Forum held in Geneva in December 2023, Mr Museveni, who had been represented by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, appealed to African heads of state and government to construct a powerful political unit capable of addressing challenges facing the continent.
“I appeal to my African brothers and sisters to take full responsibility for their situations by constructing a powerful political unit capable of eliminating cracks of weakness,” he said, adding: “It should not be fashionable for Africa to be a theatre of humanitarian crises, one after another. We have a potent cure to the misery and suffering of our people.”
As he kicked off his 83rd year, Mr Museveni said Africa can be unstoppable if leaders choose to prioritise unity for collective development.
Uganda’s petroleum security
The President used the same birthday message to defend Uganda’s decision to import petroleum products through the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC).
Mr Museveni said his government later realised that the civil servants it had entrusted with running the country’s affairs were instead ruining it, blaming them for being redundant as Uganda imported petroleum products through Kenyan middlemen.
“When we were fighting Idi Amin, among other things, we used to say that he had destroyed governance in Uganda by putting abatasoma (the uneducated) in charge of running the affairs of the Country. Indeed, when we defeated Idi Amin, we put back the civil servants in charge of running the administration of the Country. It was much later that we discovered that those civil servants (PS, Commissioners, etc.) were ruining the Country,” he said.
UNOC in July 2024 officially took over the sole importation of petroleum products after activating the transition from the Open Tender System (OTS) to the new Government-to-Government (GtG) fuel importation model.
Under the GtG system, the government, through the October 2023 amendment of the Petroleum Supply Act, empowered UNOC to import all petroleum products and later sell them to local oil marketing companies, unlike under the OTS, where Ugandan OMCs would buy products through Kenyan middlemen.
In August 2023, UNOC signed a five-year contract with Vitol, a Swiss-based, Dutch-founded global energy and commodities company, to work together on the delivery of petroleum products to Uganda.
Under the arrangement, Vitol supplies fuel products to UNOC, which in turn sells them to Ugandan OMCs and pays Vitol later.
During the launch of the 320 million-litre Kampala Storage Terminal, Mr Museveni said: “Can you imagine the Uganda government was buying fuel through middle men in Kenya? After being alerted I was approached by clever businessmen from vitol who now supply fuel products on credit…this is good.”
Former Kenyan Deputy President and critic of the William Ruto-led administration, Mr Rigathi Gachagua, told reporters last week that President Museveni was duped into the deal because it does not help Uganda.
However, Mr Museveni said in his social media post that Vitol gave Uganda a good deal that reduced the price of petroleum products.
“Our initial agreement with them on the 18th of August 2023, provided that we buy per metric tonne as follows: Diesel: Old price—$118 (Shs465,157), New price—$83 (Shs327,186); Petrol: Old Price—$97.5 (Shs384,346), New price—$61.5 (Shs242,433); Aviation fuel: Old price—$114.25 (Shs450,374), New price—$79.25 (Shs312,404).
“I want to thank H.E Ruto because he prevailed over some actors in Kenya who were trying to resist. That is how we got our new arrangement and the Kenya Government allows us to pump our products through the Kenya oil pipeline in which the Kenya Government allowed us to have shares of 20.15 percent,” he said.
Story by Busein Samilu
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