His Excellency the Vice President;
Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament;
His Lordship the Chief Justice;
Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker of Parliament;
His Lordship the Deputy Chief Justice;
Rt. Hon. Prime Minister;
Rt. Hon. Deputy Prime Ministers;
Hon. Ministers;
Hon. Members of Parliament;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen, all of you the citizens of Uganda and our visitors.
Madam Speaker,
In fulfillment of the Constitutional requirement under Article 101 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, I am here to deliver the State of the Nation Address, 2020.
While still fighting, precisely at Kanyaara camp in Ngoma, the combined meeting of the High Command and NRC, adopted the 10 points of NRM political programme. These 10 points were:
POINT N0. 1
Restoration of Democracy
POINT N0. 2
Restoration of Security
POINT N0. 3
Consolidation of national unity and elimination of all forms of sectarianism
POINT N0.4
Defending and consolidating national independence
POINT N0. 5
Building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining national economy
POINT N0.6
Restoration and improvement of social services and rehabilitation of war-ravaged areas
POINT N0. 7
Elimination of corruption and the misuse of power
POINT N0. 8
Redressing errors that have resulted in the dislocation of some sections of the population
POINT N0. 9
Co-operation with other African countries
POINT N0. 10
Following an economic strategy of a mixed economy
As far as the economy is concerned, of these 10 points, the crucial ones are nos: 5, 9 and 10. Point no.5, talks of building an economy that is independent, integrated and self-sustaining. Point no. 9, talks of co-operation among African countries, in other-words, markets integration among other factors. Point no. 10, talks of using the strategy of a mixed economy (Government and private enterprises), in doing all this ─ rather than being morbidly fixated, ideologically, to either private enterprise alone or public enterprises alone. As usual, many of the people did not bother to grasp the importance of these points or, indeed, of the other 7 points. They thought that we were just talking to justify our role in national issues. On account of this, even when we captured power, we continued to face resistance in pushing these points from elements of the political class and the bureaucratic class. We have actually continued to be in the bush even when we are in the Government and have continued to wage guerrilla warfare against the neo-colonial and colonial interests in Uganda. Much more could have been achieved, if it was not for this opposition.
It is the partial implementation of our programme, that is helping us to survive in this crisis of the virus and to even use the virus to take off in terms of the social-economic transformation, we have been talking about since the 1960s.
The News Editor ,Reporter at Kagadi Kibaale community Radio
