President Yoweri Museveni has told a visiting delegation of 15 Army Officers who are undergoing training at the National Defence College of India that the future of the African continent is bright adding that the continent will be a power because its underdevelopment challenges have been identified and critically analysed, more especially the infrastructure bottlenecks.
“In the East African Region, leaders have advocated for the creation of a common market, customs union, monetary union and a political federation with the ultimate aim of forming a feasible regional federation,” he said.
The Officers who called on the President at State House, Entebbe yesterday hail from a number of countries including Tanzania, Indonesia and Afghanistan.
Some of the Officers, in accordance with the Indian culture and tradion, are accompanied by their spouses. They are on a study tour of various institutions in Uganda whose aim is to share the challenges that face African countries in relation to their historical and military backgrounds.
The delegation, led by Maj. Gen. Mohanty and accompanied by the Indian High Commissioner to Uganda, Shri Ravi Shankar, has so far visited Uganda Air Defense Forces headquarters and is slated to tour Foreign Affairs Ministry, Kakira Sugar Works and Paraa National Park, among others.
President Museveni told his guests that the African continent, which is about 12 times the size of India, has moved to address those challenges that had contributed to its underdevelopment the problems.
He said that one of the most recent strategic approaches includes tackling infrastructure development such as electricity generation, railway network and industrialization.
“The African Renaissance is waking up. Whether with or without foreign aid, Africa will develop once the identified bottlenecks are properly addressed,” he said.
Responding to an observation from the delegation that Uganda, which had been a failed state, but under under NRM, is an exporter of peace, President Museveni said the promotion of interests by the Movement as opposed to identity previous regimes was the remedy.
“The model of fronting the issue of interests was the solution. Our predecessors fronted identity of sectarianism, etc. For us we have applied better theories of Patriotism and Pan-Africanism.
The President informed his guests that Uganda has recorded great achievements in the health sector whereby the morbidity rate has been reduced from 122 to 43 per 1000 cases while life expectancy is up from 43 years to 63 years. He observed that if the country could do more on nutrition, the morbidity rate would further plummet.