Speech Fell Short in Providing Solutions to Country’s Problems, Says Opposition

Mercy Nalugo, Yasiin Mugerwa & Isaac Imaka

8 June 2011

Kampala — President Museveni’s State of the Nation address fell short in proposing solutions to the problems facing the country, members of the opposition said, but ruling party MPs felt it was a good speech.

Last evening, NRM legislators insisted core issues, especially the prioritisation of power generation, infrastructure and fighting poverty were sufficiently examined by Mr Museveni.

That view was, however, contested by the opposition with shadow minister for internal affairs, also Makindye West MP Hussein Kyanjo, describing the address as “empty”. He told Daily Monitor after they stormed out of the parliamentary session held at the Kampala Serena Hotel that no new ground was broken.

“He offered no solution to the rising cost of living and he seems completely unaware of what is going on. He has also appointed a new finance minister who is going to read a budget (today)which she has no idea about,” he said. “How can you transfer a minister in the middle of the budget cycle.”

Bbumba gone

Businesswoman Maria Kiwanuka was appointed minister for Finance in the new government, replacing Syda Bbumba who was moved to the Ministry for Gender. And Ms Bbumba yesterday said while the President may not have been specific in commenting about inflation (now at 16 per cent), he proposed mitigation through increased production to deal with food price-driven inflation.

The President was accused by Leader of Opposition Nandala Mafabi (FDC, Budadiri East) of again reading from the same script, and being dishonest. “Whatever he talked about is impractical. For example, he deceived Ugandans that there are 30 million litres of fuel (reserves) in Jinja. The fuel he is talking about is not there. These are the same things he has talked about in previous speeches,” Mr Mafabi (pictured) said.

Promising to write a response to the speech, Mr Mafabi also rejected the President’s “claims that the Electoral Commission robbed him of his votes” during the February 18 elections.

Shadow minister for finance Godfrey Ekanya (Tororo County) called out President Museveni for not saying enough about job creation for the thousands of unemployed youths in the country. “He did not address the huge cost of public administration which has wiped out the value of our currency. The prime lending rate is now at 20 per cent and it seems the President is not in touch with reality,” he said.

Mr Ekanya proposed that reducing the cost of public administration by cutting the number of MPs by 50 per cent or reducing their salaries would have been a more practical policy pronouncement.

As such, Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga, and current coordinator of the Activists for Change pressure group which organised the recent walk-to-work protests over high fuel prices and the rising cost of living, said he was only impressed by President Museveni’s “nice tie”. “He hasn’t addressed key issues affecting the ordinary man like inflation and the biting poverty. President Museveni should walk the talk. If corruption is bad, he should condemn it by taking action,” he said.

Ruling party supporters, nevertheless, took a more favourable view of the speech. Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (NRM Lwemiyaga), himself considered one of the ‘NRM rebel MPs’, commended Mr Museveni’s emphasis on power generation and development of infrastructure in the fight against poverty. “But the walk-out by the opposition should be an eye opener to the President on, especially the fight against corruption. You can give a wonderful state of the nation address but following it through is a very big problem,” he warned.

Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi (NRM, Mityana) said the President should have spoken about dialogue between the opposition and the government. He alluded to the prevailing political environment poisoned by recriminations that the February election was stolen, a failure by the NRM leadership to respect fundamental human rights or uphold the rule of law.

Like him, another first term MP, Moses Balyeku (NRM, Jinja West), had also hoped that the President would talk more about fuel prices and the opposition-backed cost of living protests which rocked the country recently.

Another equivocal voice from the ruling party was Al Hajj Nsereko Zaake (Kampala Central) who said it was time for President Museveni to translate his words into action. “It was a brilliant speech but people do not want words. They want action and so the team that was appointed should work with commitment.”

Bukedea Woman MP and former budget committee chairperson Rose Akol would have wanted clearer comments on the health and education sectors where the government continues to suffer criticism.

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