State of the Nation Address

2016 & 2017

Since his fifth term, President Museveni has been kicking off his annual address with one major topic like he did with the economy last year and focusing on it this year. In 2016, after facing a grueling election and capping 30 years in power, Museveni started off with a lecture on democracy telling off those agitating for political reforms in Uganda. After a highly disputed election with his main challenger Dr Kizza Besigye in jail, Museveni said that he was not aware of any society “more democratic” mentioning that Uganda has special representation for the women, for the youth, the disabled, the workers and soldiers. He added that Uganda had MPs for vanishing tribes.

In 2017, Museveni’s address focused on security concerns since a few months before, AIGP Felix Kaweesi had been killed outside his home in addition to criminal gangs hacking residents of Greater Masaka after dropping leaflets in their homes. Lamenting on the absence of CCTV cameras in towns and highways, Museveni said it was difficult to catch assassins by just depending on eye witnesses.

In the same speech, Museveni rapped the police for poor intelligence gathering and protection of criminals, citing the latter as a reason for the spike in crime.

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