President Yoweri Museveni has said what many people think is an impossibility – that he will hand over power if he loses the 2016 election.
Museveni is facing competition from Forum For Democratic Change’s Rtd. Col. Kiiza Besigye in their fourth face-off and a new entrant, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi who is also proving a force to reckon with.
Addressing the press at State Lodge in Arua earlier this Thursday morning, Museveni said he will relinquish power in case he loses the 2016 elections.
“If I lose elections, how will I be in power, I have got my job, I am a cattle keeper you know that,” Museveni said.
He added that contrary to popular belief that he had pocketed the Electoral Commission, it is independent.
“The fact that we lose in some constituencies means that the commission is not biased. I have been losing in West Nile until recently,” he added.
I am not power hungry
Despite having been at the helm for 30 years, Museveni who is seeking another five year term says he is not power hungry.
“I am not power- hungry, I am mission-hungry. It’s why am in politics. I am not looking for a job or money. One of the missions I am pursuing is unification of East Africa. We should form a federation though we have a community now. Nobody can intimidate me from that aspiration,” he said.
“When people like Besigye ran away from NRM, we had insecurity in some areas. We have fully pacified Uganda without Besigye’s contribution and inspite of his obstruction.”
“Another mission is social-economic transformation. If these fellows like Besigye, if I was sure they had those targets, I would let them continue. How can I abandon Uganda to people like that unless people of Uganda make that decision?” he wondered.
He rubbishes Besigye’s salary promise to teachers.
The president added that Besigye’s promises of paying primary school teachers Shs600,000 and secondary school teachers Shs1m are untenable.
“If we do the simple maths, paying 160,000 primary school a salary of Shs600,000 a month translates into Shs96 billion a month and Shs1.2 trillion a year. That is besides his Shs1m offer to secondary school teachers. And if you increase teachers’ pay, you must increase pay to soldiers, nurses, etc. It means we wouldn’t do other projects like the roads in West Nile. The wage bill is already Shs2.8trillion. That’s irresponsible talk as usual by likes of Besigye. He wants to destroy our gains by increasing wage bill at expense of infrastructure. Salaries are monthly, once you start paying, you don’t stop. With a dam, you build once,” he said.
