President Museveni has wondered why many Ugandans specifically the youth, claim that there is no money yet they live a very splashy and luxurious life.
Museveni was speaking to youth who make up the National Youth Council executive at rugby grounds in Jinja District on Wednesday.
The president asked the youth to maintain Uganda’s cultural heritage but ensure that certain traditional acts that impact on the economy are changed.
“The west doesn’t have spectacles to see the difference between a woman and a man. They are sick. So whereas, our cultural heritage must be maintained. others like our traditional subsistence methods that have claimed over 68% of the population, must be changed.”
Museveni also discouraged Ugandans from living an extremely luxurious and extravagant life, claiming that it is one of the problems Uganda is facing. This he said is social indiscipline, where people claim that they don’t have money but are busy spending the night in and night out in bars and pork joints.
“We need to improve our social discipline specifically by reducing our expenditure on luxuries, big parties, and the likes; if you don’t have money, what money do you spend in bars? You go to bars and they are full, you go to where they are roasting pigs and the places are full. This is social indiscipline and it is part of the problem we are facing. We can start by being economically parsimonious. The government is ready to support youth who will form Saccos to engage in productive activities.”
“Youth should know that when speaking to me, they are speaking to someone who was once a former youth. I was a youth but extraordinary youth, who was better than my elders at the time. I preached a change to modern methods of farming when people in Ankole still believed that commercial farming was only for the elite,” he added.
“This is what I am asking of the youth today, start by changing your general attitude, then change that of the youth you lead. Even if it means sensitising the people on changing to the money economy through Twitter. I can also tweet and I will be there tweeting with you,” Museveni said.