President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who is also the National Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, on Wednesday 16, briefed the NRM Caucus about the ongoing Operation Shujaa which is being implemented following a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), to conduct joint operations for the eradication of ADF and other foreign armed groups in the eastern part of DR Congo.
During the meeting held at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, Museveni said that they did not come to Parliament before the operation not because they did not know that it was necessary, but that Security in Africa is a big problem because many people do not know what to do and the situation is complicated by foreigners who cause endless suffering of the African people.
“We did not come to parliament because that operation had to be agreed upon by the Governments of Congo and Uganda. That’s why we decided to first dialogue with our Congolese brothers,” he said.
The President said insecurity in Africa is caused by bad politics and armies.
“Our army is built on the four principles of Patriotism, Pan-Africanism, Social economic transformation and democracy,” he said.
Museveni, assured the NRM Parliamentary caucus that the operation in Congo is moving on well.
He used the same occasion to caution members of Parliament against interfering in the work of fighting crime saying the people mandated to fight crime constitutionally are the security forces who later brief the Ministries concerned.
“The anti-crime warriors for the country are well known, supervised by DPC, RPC, and RDC in a district. Let them do their work. In case it is judged necessary by the central government to dispatch people to re-assure the population, it should be for a limited period so that they do not distract the anti-crime fighters, but also with a briefing from those responsible for fighting crime,” he said.
The President said that Uganda is one of the few countries in Africa that is peaceful and added that under the NRM, Uganda has never needed security support of UN etc.
“The NRM has been able to achieve this through patriotism of UPDF/NRA. We have tried to spread to the other security agencies like the police etc. We have achieved peace with a low budget. Handling crime is a technical matter and all actors must follow protocol if the country is to win the war against crime,” he said.
He also commended Parliament for the great work done especially on handling the oil bill.
“Am very happy with the work being done by Parliament and the NRM caucus. Because as the bible says, we shall know them by their fruits. One in particular was the one of the oil bill. It was needed urgently for the pipeline to move very well. You behaved and supported it and we moved,” he said.
The President urged the caucus to handle the issue of the electricity bill very quickly to enable industrialization so that our country grows.
The NRM Parliamentary Caucus Chairperson and the Government Chief Whip Hon. Thomas Tayebwa said they have made a lot of strides with 9 bills processed out of the16 presented in the house.
“We have processed 9 bills out of the 16 presented to the house. I thank you all members for making sure assignments are handled on time. We have surpassed the legislation performance,” Tayebwa said.
Tayebwa commended the President for always guiding the caucus and promised that Parliament will handle the electricity bill within two weeks.
“I want to congratulate you on the launch of Parish Development Model but we need to sensitize the population and I request the caucus to sit another time specifically for this. We also promise you to expedite the electricity bill in two weeks,” Tayebwa said.
The caucus agreed to convene at its earliest to discuss the issues of the rising commodity prices and the Parish Development Model. The caucus also tasked the Security Ministry to officially brief Parliament about the operation in Congo.
