President Museveni has for the second time commented about the issue of tribalism and said whoever wants to involve the UPDF in the debate is an enemy of the country.
In a missive released on Thursday where Museveni responds to comments made by his social media followers, he said whereas many have tried to involve the army in the tribalism debate, what they are doing is bad and can only be equated to be working for the country’s enemies.
“Coming to the armed forces, especially the army, my advice to all of you, is that leave your army out of that nonsense. The NRA, the UPDF are armies of sacrifice, all the time for no pay or low pay. They (we) put their lives on the line,”Museveni said.
“Therefore, leave UPDF out of the circus of sectarianism. Fighters, real fighters, never have interests in tribes or religious sectarianism; but in comrade-in-arms.”
Museveni cited examples of two close friends of his, including one Ageta and Opio whose paths he said crossed as they fought Idi Amin.
He said the people that he had never met prior to the war against Amin later became close friends to him not because they were from the same tribe.
“If you are not working for the enemy, you cannot go on the social-media and demand that we publish the names of the personnel of UPDF, their ranks and their jobs. The only thing we can say and what you know is that recruitment into the Police and UPDF is by quota. Beyond that, leave our Army alone and I mean, leave our army alone.”
The President however warned that preaching sectarianism as is done by many social media commentators is criminal and should stop.
