Date: Mon Dec 8 15:19:25 2014
Ugandans won't let me retire, says Museveni
2014-12-08 15:25
Kampala - Uganda's veteran President Yoweri Museveni has said people don't
want him to retire but that he doesn't "need power", ahead of a highly
anticipated ruling party conference next week.
Museveni, aged 70 and Uganda's leader since 1986, has already been chosen as
the ruling National Resistance Movement's (NRM) candidate for presidential
elections due in 2016, but there have been increasing murmurs of discontent
within some sections of the party.
While appearing on a radio talk show during the weekend, the leader was
challenged by MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda to announce his retirement date.
"I don't think the Ugandans are as obsessed with my retirement, because
whenever I go for elections, five million tell me not to go, but stay,"
Museveni was quoted as saying by Ugandan newspapers.
Potential challenger
"I do not lack where to retire to, but I am also a member of a party and I
do what it tells me."
In September, Museveni sacked the country's prime minister, Amama Mbabazi, a
former ally who has emerged as a potential challenger. Mbabazi, the NRM
secretary general currently on forced leave, has confirmed he will attend
the party delegates conference due to begin on 15 December in Kampala.
It adds to speculation that his supporters may try to disrupt the event.
"I don't need power. For what? I don't need power as a person," Museveni
said.
"I have my home, I have my house. I need nothing from anybody as long as
there is peace in Uganda."
The ageing leader also said he didn't think there was "any country in the
world that is more democratic than Uganda," claiming that the uprisings in
country's like Egypt and Libya could not happen in Uganda.
Libya's toppled dictator Muammar Gaddafi, the longest-serving leader in both
Africa and the Arab world until his ousting in 2011, had allowed "no
competitive politics," Museveni said.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (File: AFP)
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni (File: AFP)
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