Environmentalist joins list of 2021 Presidential aspirants

Mugerwa ready to jump into Uganda Presidential race with New Green Deal

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As the clock ticks towards Uganda’s presidential nominations in August 2020, another person has declared his intentions to challenge President Yoweri Museveni.

Timothy Mugerwa, an environmentalist, joins Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine, Moses Byamugisha, Nkangabwa John Herbert, Mwesigye Fred, Joseph Mabirizi and Mwambazi Joseph who have already declared their intention to challenge the incumbent.

This brings to seven the number of aspirants seeking to contest for the election that is to be held in early 2021.

Announcing his intentions at Speke Hotel Kampala today, Mugerwa said he felt the time is ripe for new leadership that will transform Uganda into a developed country.

He said he grew up hearing that politics is bad and dirty. He however said this is the time to clean it up and he thinks he’s the right man for the job.

“Leadership shouldn’t be built on money and popularity but brains. This new decade has its own challenges that can’t be addressed using the approaches of the 20th century,” Mugerwa said.

“I don’t want to remind you of the problems that Uganda faces because you already know them. I have brought solutions to problems others keep talking about,” said Mugerwa, better known as the first president of the African Youth Union said.

Mugerwa for Green New Deal

As a solution to Uganda’s many problems, Mugerwa adds he was embracing the global Green New Deal that he says will solve inequality, corruption, stagnant economy, systemic poverty, environmental abuse and increase employment for the youth that constitute the largest percentage of Uganda’s population.

“We deserve politics built on ideas not emotions and excitement. We need strong institutions not individuals. We have to build the 21st century revolution from the grassroots not from the top as everyone else is doing. A green New Deal is a policy framework and platform that addresses these challenges,” Mugerwa said.

Asked about his political journey and his readiness to lead a country with so many problems like he highlighted them, Mugerwa said his role in youth politics at the African Union level and his participation in several global campaigns against climate change make him suitable for the challenges that bedevil Uganda.

“I’m not new in finding solutions. I have been into the climate change campaign trying to find solution to problems of climate change which is the biggest threat to humanity today. This is not about me but what I stand for.  If you have trusted others who have stood four times and have not delivered you to where you are supposed to go, why not trust me,” Mugerwa said taking a swipe at four time presidential candidate, Dr. Kizza Besigye.

On whether he would support a joint presidential candidate to challenge president Museveni, Mugerwa said he would, for as long as there is consensus among Ugandans on the need to have a joint candidate.

He disagrees with the arrangement where a few people sit in hotels and then dictate whoever they feel should be the joint candidate without any effort to consul the people. He however couldn’t explain how this consensus by all Ugandans could be arrived at.

Ec Uganda Revised Key Milestones for the 2021 General Elections Roadmap by The Independent Magazine on Scribd

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