Information is a powerful weapon. - The voice of the voiceless
----- Original Message -----
From: Elum Aniap Godfrey Ayoo
To: [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask] ; [log in to unmask]
Cc: Edward Mulindwa ; [log in to unmask] ; Michael Kiwanuka
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2004 10:21 PM
Subject: Museveni should go like Moi, says US
Museveni should go like Moi, says US
By Our Reporter
Jan 17, 2004
KAMPALA - President Museveni should retire like former Kenyan leader, Daniel arap Moi when his term of office runs out in 2006, a US government official has said.
The acting Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Mr Charles Snyder, made the comments on Wednesday night when he was hosted on Voice of America's television programme, Straight Talk Africa.
The programme, which broadcasts out of Washington, US, to a global audience, is hosted by Ugandan journalist Shaka Ssali and relayed by a local television station, WBS.
Prompted by a caller who demanded to know the US position on democracy in Uganda, Snyder began by saying that Museveni had scored success on the economic front and in the fight against HIV/Aids.
He revealed that the US government accepted the Movement system, despite its flaws, as necessary for reconciliation and peace in the country.
"We were satisfied in those early days with the Movement setting up structures and things," Snyder said.
But the official said the US government now wants Museveni's 2006 retirement to be the icing on his political legacy.
"Now we are having a dialogue that says 'let's do the right thing at the end,'" Snyder said.
"Let's go out like President Moi; let's hand over in a democratic fashion; let's set the stage for Ugandans to move to the next stage."
Mr Museveni has not publicly said that he intends to stay in power after 2006. However, a Cabinet proposal to lift the constitutional limits on the presidency, if passed, would allow him to stand in 2006.
Critics of the proposal say it could turn an incumbent into a life president but the US government official was optimistic Museveni will resist the temptation to stay.
"This is a man who is open to dialogue and who can change his mind," Snyder said.
"We hope he'll take the high road out and leave his country with a functioning democracy as his legacy," the official said.
"He's already left with a good economy, with a great legacy on HIV/Aids and if he can now leave us with that last real pillar of democracy, we'll find him as one of the great African leaders."
Snyder also revealed US support to government to end the war in the north.
"We've actually tried to help with the LRA problem in northern Uganda territory and I think we've convinced President Museveni to reach out to the Acholi people. So this is a man who has proven to us that he can change."
© 2004 The Monitor Publications
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"And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, 'When will you be satisfied?' We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities (.) No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream". (Martin Luther King, 1964 Nobel Peace prize laureate, assassinated for his struggle)
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