The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
COMMENT | YOWERI K MUSEVENI | Mr. Mwenda, thank you for declaring me senile and incapable of judging right. You will, however, discover that at 82, I am still able to defend Uganda and myself with the Bible, the AK-47 and the pen.
You are supposed to be a journalist. Why do you not interview these “conmen” such as Magoola, Ssenfuka, etc.? They are here in Uganda. They are where you can reach them and even the assets they have put on the ground. Visit Magoola’s factories in Matugga and Kamuli. Interview people who testify that they were cured by Senfuka’s mixture of herbs. Visit Tugume’s factory in Ntungamo. Visit Professor Muranga’s banana project in Bushenyi.
You are ashamed, and you dare not talk about the Kiira Motors because that is a shamer of the neocolonial agents like Mwenda. The do-nothingers, like Andrew Mwenda, always running around noisily telling lies, claim to save government money from loss-making projects. Yet, they happily cohabit peacefully and gleefully with the neo-colonial status quo of confining Africa to producing and exporting unprocessed raw-materials where we lose so much value.
The other day I gave the example of Gold where the parasites that abound in Africa export gold at 84% purity and get USD 60,000. A Kilogram of fully refined gold of the purity of 99.9% goes for USD 168,000. How much loss is that? A kilogram of processed coffee, goes for USD 25 to USD 40 depending on the brands and yet for raw materials we get USD 2.5 per kilogram.
The Stubborn old man of Uganda who is senile, banned the export of all unprocessed minerals. There are now 10 gold refineries in Uganda. The gold exports from Uganda have now hit USD 7.48 billion.
The great Mwenda is talking about small capital for small holders. Does this great Andrew Mwenda live in Uganda? Have you heard of PDM and the other funds? If you are a patriot, why do you not participate in making them work? Where they have been implemented, they do wonders. What caused the boom of coffee from 3 million bags to now 8.8 million bags bringing into the country USD 2.4billion?
As a freedom fighter, I am always stubbornly standing for patriotism, Pan-Africanism, social-economic transformation and Democracy. I am never swayed by traitors and foreign agents. That is how we overcome all the challenges.
What could be the real motive of Andrew Mwenda of externalizing in the social-media our internal discussions, including the Cabinet? It is to scare away our partners because the likes of Andrew Mwenda are worried by the success of Uganda’s economy, now growing at 6.3% per annum.
This is not the first time Mwenda has done it. He was part of those that caused load-shedding in Uganda in 2005 and onwards, having sabotaged our partnership with AES (American Energy Service) in the year 2003 on the Bujagali Electricity Project where they were going to produce electricity at US cents 4.9 per Khwr. Ebikorimo by’enkoko, tebitta Kamunye – the curses of the chicken do not kill the kite.
Ugandans, ignore the likes of Andrew Mwenda. They are always trying to sabotage our growth and transformation.
The growth of the commercial dairy industry in the cattle corridor boosted milk production from 200 million litres to 5.3 billion litres; the banana industry; the fruit industry in Teso, Luwero, Kayunga and Masaka; the palm oil industry in Kalangala, Buvuma, Bundibugyo and Maruzi; the coffee industry already referred to; the steel industry; etc., are always opposed by the likes of Andrew Mwenda. We have succeeded in spite of their sabotage. Even if we were to make a mistake in the effort to industrialize Uganda, achieve import substitution and export promotion, it would be better than merely careening on in the neo-colonial doldrums.
We attacked Kabamba two times, not succeeding. On the third attempt, we had great success. Failure from which we learn lessons, is success.
With the Banyankore, if a baby is learning how to walk and falling down, we encourage the baby saying: “Siinga abarezi, siinga abarezi, tengerera, tengerera.” We do not do what Mwenda is doing by saying: “The child will never stand.” You, then, become omwinazi (an ill-wisher).
Aluta Continua
Victory is certain.
Signed:
Yoweri K. Museveni
Ssaabalwanyi.
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Museveni’s response ironically strengthens Mwenda’s argument more than it weakens it.Mwenda’s core criticism was not simply that Uganda should not industrialise. In fact, he explicitly accepts the importance of industrial policy and even supports state-backed manufacturing in principle. His argument was about governance, judgment, concentration of risk, lack of scrutiny and the growing tendency for huge public resources to be allocated based on presidential conviction rather than rigorous institutional assessment.Museveni’s response never seriously addresses those concerns.Take the Senfuka example. Mwenda describes a man allegedly claiming to have discovered cures for cancer and diabetes, rejected a supposed $50 billion offer from Elon Musk, and then convinced the Ugandan state to consider funding him with about $1 billion. Instead of directly disproving the concerns about credibility, scientific verification or due diligence, Museveni simply says critics should “visit people who testify they were cured.” That is not how modern pharmaceutical investment decisions are made. Anecdotal testimonies are not substitutes for internationally recognised clinical trials, peer review, regulatory approval and scientific validation.The same applies to Matthias Magoola and Dei Pharma. Mwenda raises questions about enormous public financial exposure, alleged debt irregularities, prior fraud allegations and politically driven approvals. Museveni’s answer is essentially: go visit the factory. But factories existing on the ground does not automatically prove sound governance, value for money or commercial viability. Many failed projects globally had buildings, machinery and political endorsements before collapsing.In fact, Museveni’s own response reinforces Mwenda’s exact point about personalised decision-making. He openly admits forcing Cabinet to support projects, dismissing objections and framing dissent as sabotage or anti-patriotism. Mwenda’s argument is precisely that institutions no longer meaningfully constrain presidential impulses because the system increasingly revolves around Museveni’s personal judgment.Even the tone of the response supports Mwenda’s concerns. Rather than separating criticism from loyalty to the country, Museveni equates disagreement with being “traitors,” “foreign agents” or enemies of transformation. That framing discourages independent scrutiny and creates an environment where questionable projects can survive simply because opposing them becomes politically dangerous.Mwenda also raises a broader economic argument that Museveni never truly answers: why concentrate trillions into a handful of politically connected mega-projects instead of spreading venture financing across hundreds or thousands of smaller startups? Museveni responds emotionally about patriotism, milk, bananas and liberation struggle history, but avoids engaging the structural concern about risk concentration and accountability.Most revealingly, Museveni invokes the Bible, the pen and the AK-47 together while responding to a journalist’s criticism. Symbolically, that says a lot. It reflects a political culture where revolutionary authority, military legitimacy and personal rule remain deeply intertwined with governance. Ironically, that is exactly the atmosphere Mwenda was describing: a state increasingly driven by personalised power rather than detached institutional reasoning.The strongest proof that Mwenda touched a nerve is that Museveni’s response spends more time attacking motives, patriotism and loyalty than systematically disproving the allegations themselves.K
It’s highly probable that the Big Man didn’t want to go into details of cost implications and internal processes related to the various projects, as he seems to regard Mwenda as a veteran “spoiler”and skeptic. These are things that line ministries could have explained earlier and taken skeptics to relevant sites to ask more specific questions and get answers on what exactly is being done. If any Ministers/technocrats have been bulldozed from the decision-making process, they should be the first to complain and resign!!
Your Excellency,
As a passionate farmer cultivating macadamias in Bukono, Namutumba, I would like to applaud the remarkable progress of the Oil Palm project. Witnessing the transformative developments in Kyotera and Kalangala is truly inspiring. Thank you for your visionary leadership in promoting agricultural growth.
On a personal note, I have requested our Bukono Member of Parliament to extend an invitation for you to visit our macadamia orchard. I would be deeply honoured to host you, and kindly ask if you might remind her of this request the next time you meet.
Separately, I have been following the progress of Kiira Motors with great admiration. Having extensive experience managing urban bus and rail networks with Transport for London (TfL) in the UK, I see immense potential for Uganda. A few years ago, a group of us in the diaspora—including Mitul Chandrana, nephew to Sudhir Ruparelia—discussed a shared vision. We asked ourselves why we are running transport systems for London when we could be deploying our expertise to build a world-class public transport network for our motherland.
We stand ready to support you in developing and operating a robust bus transit network for Uganda. I welcome the opportunity to discuss how we can best contribute our global expertise to this national initiative.
Thank you for your time and continued dedication to our country’s development.
With highest regards,
Mr. President, one thing nobody can take away from you is your belief in Uganda’s future. That belief built confidence in local industries long before many Ugandans believed in themselves.
But because your influence is so great, every decision you make now carries historic weight. At this stage of leadership, the country needs not only bold vision, but systems strong enough to separate genuine patriots from clever opportunists hiding behind patriotism.
That is the conversation many Ugandans are hoping for.
What if we appointed him to Cabinet and see how he would implement stuff, wouldn’t it be a better test? The taste of the pudding is in the eating.
we are unfair once we assess learners during the duration of the exam, we allow them take the attempt, submit and carefully go through the process of marking, grading and recommend.