The 2008 State of the Nation Address

I have not heard or seen my president speak with such composed gusto mingled with wisdom like on Thursday 5 June 2008, for a long time. His 3 hour State of the Nation address coincided with the World Environment Day; Barack Obama’s first general campaign after nomination; my dad’s journey from Arua to Kampala for Rachel’s Graduation in Mukono the following day and Rachel’s Consecration Service. His Kisanjaness Yoweri Kaguta Museveni (Iguru the VII, he deserves life presidency for sure) started his fantastic speech by asking MPS, diplomats, traditional leaders and all present in the Parliament building to stand up for one minute in honour of fallen MPS and the 20 Budo girls…
He took off his spectacles and heartily talked about how while in Arua, the Ayivu MP told him that some people were worried about Arua Municipality’s modernization and expansionist encroachment into her rural constituency. How backward her people desire their land to remain will be severely challenged by the powerful wave of development marauding through West Nile’s capital and other Ugandan towns namely Mbale, Lira plus Mbarara, etc. Nevertheless, M7 assured her that there would not only be development in Ayivu but also autonomy sparking a rapture of claps and giggly murmurs. He probably said it well…It was amazing to hear that Uganda’s GDP has grown from a few billions in 1997 (The Base Year for Uganda’s economy) to hundreds of trillions today. The 2008 to 9 national budget would be read the following week… M7 also gave an anecdote about how he was called for a fund-raising drive in some district. He donated 10 Million while the people brought ‘bogoya’ (The House laughed and he went silent for a moment), chicken and other things that totaled to only 2 Million.
Museveni attacked media houses such as Daily Monitor for spreading false stories about him. For example, when he told a foreign businessman to choose any figure to show the rent value he was pestering M7 to quote and the investor selected 1 Dollar for the time being, Monitor blew the story out of proportion by claiming that M7 had sold Dairy Corporation for 1 Dollar. This was not true. “Today, I can proudly say that I sold, No!, actually gave away Dairy Corporation…If such groups cannot restrain themselves, then the law must restrain them…Monitor are saboteurs…Their stories easily go all over the world via internet.” [By Thursday, as he gave the speech, DC had then become a very enviable company with a new multi-storeyed block at their industrial area premises and an increase in the litres of milk processed per day. Today, Uganda exports finished milk products like tasty yoghurt, cheese, creamed milk, high quality pasteurized milk and so on] “Leaders and actors have no right to damage the future of our country…Why do you associate yourself with radios and newspapers that spread sectarianism?”
The president talked touchingly about energy and how a poor country (He actually said “our poor country” with a pause and sarcastic laughter from the august house) will go ahead to support its own GOD-sent hydro-power dam constructions. “The 6th Parliament made a mistake in postponing the construction of Bujagali Dam…Now that they (the donors) have paid us back, we will begin the Karuma project.”
The president, who confessed that he had a family company (in form of a Farm) and wanted every family to have at least one in order to reach the ‘Bonna Bagaggawale’ Household Income target of 20 Million per annum, ended with two Bible verses from the Gospel of Matthew: “Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all good things will be added unto you…” He humorously alluded to Uganda’s situation by saying that without focusing on a particular sector of importance, we wouldn’t be able to progress. The reason why agriculture is not very pronounced these days is because the other sectors have grown fast. “Let your light shine before all men that they may see your works and praise your father in heaven…”
(Some ideas were paraphrased from my memory one day later)