President Museveni has said he finds it odd that people enjoy alcohol yet when he first tasted it, it was so bitter that he abandoned it.
“I had never tasted alcohol before then one of my friends convinced me to. I tried beer; it’s so bitter like omululuza (bitter leaf). I asked why they were drinking it, he told me ‘you’ll know the sweetness later.’ I tried Johnnie walker and it was like fire,”Museveni said on Tuesday.
The president was speaking during the pass out ceremony for cadet Assistant Superintendents and non -commissioned officers for Uganda Prisons at Kololo independence grounds.
Museveni told the prisons officers that the future is bright for them but only if they are disciplined and don’t engage in alcoholism which might destroy their lives.
“Don’t squander yourself with alcohol and malaya. As an old man, I can tell you the advantage of discipline is good. You see me, in September I will be 77 years but I don’t have space for alcohol. I have never known why people drink alcohol.”
The president reminisced one occasion in 1966 when he first tasted alcohol when his friends took him to a bar in Mbarara and asked him to try the drink.
“I tried Johnnie walker and it was like fire. It is put in small glasses but it is like fire in the mouth. Why should you drink this thing? If it can burn the tongue, what can happen to the liver and other parts,” Museveni wondered.
According to Museveni, it pays to be disciplined, adding that keeping healthy makes one more useful to society.
“I am going to be 77 and I can walk any distance. Health is wealth; don’t play around with your life. Exercising is part of discipline and if you have health, you get time to do more things. The longer you live, the more contribution you can make if you are healthy.”
“My father died at age of 97 but in the last 20 years of his life, he helped me write the Runyankore Rukiga thesaurus. I was able to write it with his assistance in the latter part of his life. If he had died I would have missed his contribution.”
