President Yoweri Museveni has applauded the African Leadership Magazine which gave him the African Leadership Peace Award at the Royal Geographical Society in London where he has been attending the UK-Africa Investment Summit.
The President who returned on Wednesday to Uganda, says Africa will continue to rise and shine, once her people diagnose its problems correctly and offer appropriate prescription.
While speaking at the awards event, Mr. Museveni thanked Dr. Ken Giami, the Chief Executive Officer of Africa Leadership Magazine, for inviting him to deliver a keynote address, on what he termed as an important occasion.
“The topic: ‘Harnessing Africa’s Potential: The Uganda Example’ has been central to my various efforts, for the last 60 years, as an active participant on the political scene of Africa’s journey to socio-economic transformation and in particular, Uganda” the President said.
President Museveni says that the prescription for African problems is to fight the sectarian ideas of identity, emphasize patriotism (unity within Uganda), pan-Africanism (unity in Africa), social-economic transformation (sociological leap) to create a middle class and a skilled working class and to deal with global players on equal and mutually beneficial terms through trade, investments and tourism.
He added that it is four pillars of Patriotism, Pan-Africanism, Social-economic transformation and Democracy that have led to the social-political diagnosis and prescription that formed the base of Africa’s ideology and strategy.
“This means that we banish sectarianism of religion and tribe and gender-chauvinism against women because they do not address the crucial modern issue of market. The one who buys what you produce supports your prosperity. Therefore, there must be no sectarianism in Uganda because it fragments our market. Moreover, even the Ugandan market is not enough. We need the African market. Hence, Pan-Africanism is core to our programme. With a united African market, we can negotiate for access to other markets of the USA, China, India, Russia, Japan, etc.”
