Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has decoded the cause of poverty in his country and Africa as a whole. He attributes it to “sleep”.
“Africa is so rich because we have got water, land, minerals, good weather. So, how does this [poverty] come about? It is because of nino [Langi word for sleeping],” he was quoted by local media Daily Monitor.
He made this statement over the weekend at an event where he blamed Africans and “oversleeping” for African problems.
“People, as the prayer book of the Church of Uganda says, ‘leave undone as they ought to do and they do things that they are not meant to do’. That is why you get [poverty] in the place which has got a lot of lonyo [Langi for wealth],” he added.
Museveni has regularly addressed the issue of poverty in Africa and advocated for Africans to focus on agriculture and internal trade to develop their nations.
He expressed his “love” for U.S. President Donald Trump whom he described as “one of the best presidents ever” after Trump was reported to have described African nations as “shithole countries”.
“America has got one of the best presidents ever, Mr Trump. I love Trump because he tells the Africans frankly … the Africans need to solve their problems, they need to be strong. In the world, you cannot survive if you are weak. It is the fault of the Africans that they are weak … why can’t we make Africa strong?” Museveni said to a laughing audience during the opening of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in January.
73-year-old Yoweri Museveni has been riddled with controversies including the recent extension of presidential age limit which will enable him to stand for another election despite serving as president since 1986.
This article by Ismail Akwei was first published on face2faceafrica.com
Ismail Akwei 