President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged Africans to unite and fight the colonial legacies of division if they are to achieve freedom and personal liberties. The President made these remarks while addressing a wide spectrum of attendees at the Kenyatta University in Kenya where he was concluding his Three day state visit.
In his lecture notes, the President said, “The approach to this has been five-fold. First, we had to fight colonialism and get our freedom. It is a largely complete task. This independence meant giving our people a role in choosing leaders and determining how state affairs run. Democracy therefore is the second tenet”.
“Africa had also played a critical role in preservation and advancement of religions. Jacob’s brothers, who became the 12 tribes of Israel, survived famine by going to Egypt. Jesus too was hidden in Egypt while Prophet Muhammad was sheltered in Ethiopia”.
“But despite these early leaps, Africa in the last 600 years retarded, becoming a victim of slave trade, colonialism, Neo-colonialism, genocides, poverty and other ills. The question then is, how can we, who were first now be the last and how do we stop these from re-occurring?”
“The third issue is that of prosperity. In order for prosperity to occur, we had to offer a clear ideological guide on rejection of identity ahead of interests. Of what use is your tribe when they cannot purchase what you produce? You need other people to support your prosperity.”
“Fourth. Prosperity occurs when you have integration. Seeing how small our markets are, we need to integrate as regions and blocs. It is why we make a case for the EAC. Besides expanding our regional markets, this also helps us when negotiating with 3rd parties like the US & China”
“Economic integration alone is not enough. We must address issues of strategic security, reason we push for political federations. The experience of prosperous but militarily weak countries like Germany, Poland, France being overrun in the world wars should teach us a lesson.”
“The fifth pillar is the social fabric that unites our people. Africa has four broad language groups. The Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, the Afro-Asiatic and the Khoisan. For East Africa, Kiswahili is a neutral language that we can adopt. There is a lot more to unite than divide us.”
The President thanked the President of Kenya and the university’s management for inviting him and said “Importantly, I thank President Uhuru Kenyatta who invited me on a three-day state visit to Kenya. He came to see me off before I went to deliver the lecture. I thank him for the hospitality extended to my entourage and myself.”
