Some members of Parliament have expressed dissatisfaction over the President’s national address on security describing it as “rhetoric” that was presented during the President’s recent speeches like the National Budget reading and State of the Nation Address.
In his address, Museveni issued a number of measures which he said once implemented will help solve the security challenges in the country.
Commenting on the President’s speech, the Leader of Opposition, Winfred Kizza said the address was similar to that of a professor who had come to lecture MPs.
She said that the said interventions have no impact given that the President has introduced them when Parliament has already passed the 2018/19 budget.
“The public has had a lot of the President’s lamentations but I can attribute all this to his weakness of not strengthening institutions where everybody was just struggling to please the person of the President not working to ensure that the institutions were working,” Kiiza alleged.
She further alleged that, “The President killed the Police by ensuring that the Police is manned by army officers, weakened the army by appointing people without qualifications for certain appointments.”
Kiiza attributed the insecurity that the country is currently grappling with to corruption, nepotism and non-developmental of state institutions.
“We can still blame the insecurity on him for failure to supervise his teams and he has conceded because he said he has only realized that those in position were not doing a good job,” the Leader of Opposition said.
Lubaga South Member of Parliament, Kato Lubwama on his part reacted to Wednesday’s address as ‘a language of the army men in power’ which he said is not new.
Lubwama was concerned that Museveni failed to explain his recent directives on banning Police bond and court bail for suspects of murder.
Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zake said that MPs would prefer to engage with the President in a debate.
To lecture them and then leave can not satisfy the issues MPs who want him to answer several security questions in the country, the legislator stated.
Makindye East MP Ibrahim Kasozi, noted that the President did not address the issue of SIM card issues used by criminals.
The President’s address touched on issues of the capacity of Police and the army to counter crime and terrorism. He emphasized that for the first time in 500 years, Uganda is peaceful from corner to corner.
Some other legislators hoped that Museveni would break silence and publicly comment on the recent detention of former IGP, Gen Kale Kayihura, however the President did not talk about the issue. Kayihura’s detention is said to be in relation to his failure to curb criminality during his tenure as well as other offences relating to undermining national security.