Uganda: I Have Not Got My Wealth Through Working for Government, Says Museveni

President Yoweri Museveni (file photo).
18 September 2023

President Museveni has scoffed at naysayers who accuse him of having accumulated wealth from government, saying that he has achieved it through hard work.

Responding to social media commentators about a photo he posted together with First Son, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba at his farm, Museveni said it is not true that he has depended on government coffers to become rich in the last 40 years.

"Nsubuga wondered why I still talk about wealth creation, having depended on the national purse for 40 years. Ndugu Nsubuga, the two pieces of muhogo (otushate), some peas, some kalo, two hundred grammes of meat three times a week and 3 cups of milk coffee in a day, plus the little amounts of food Maama takes each day, can all be easily got from our farms at Ntungamo, Rwakitura, Kisozi, etc. Nobody in my family ever worked for the government until 1965, when I worked as a licensed teacher at Bweranyangyi Senior Secondary School, the year it started. In the last 63 years I have been involved in African resistance, I have got very little personal benefit that I could not get privately, provided there was peace in Uganda," Museveni said.

The president who has been in power for 31 years now insisted that the wealth he has is through hard work , adding that it is from his private ventures and not government that he has got everything his has.

"The wealth I have is based on modernized obujajja wealth. This is what I commend to the Ugandans and the bazzukulu. That was the main point of the message accompanying my picture with Muhoozi at Kisozi with the Akareemba herd in the background. We are very proud of that heritage and its modernized form. In the world, many countries are crying for food because of the wars in Europe. Here in Uganda, we have our own muhogo, millet, maize, beef, milk, sugar, fruits, etc."

"The only issue to address is for the homesteads that are not growing their own food or not having money to buy the food they need."

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