Kampala: NRM Deputy Secretary-General Rose Namayanja has said that the country has come from far since it gained independence in 1962, 59 years so far. She says that with the foundation set by the NRM government in its 35 years of leadership, the focus should now be on development.
Namayanja was today appearing on the NBS TV popular morning show “the morning breeze” where she discussed Uganda’s current progress and state of affairs since it gained independence 59 years ago.
She says the young generation has not been informed well about the country’s past. “One of the things we haven’t done well is telling the young people where we have been. We had two decades of turmoil, but now we can be in a country with stability,” Namayanja said.
“Our history gives us an idea of how things looked like or how they can look like. We can’t forget where we have come from,” Namayanja said, adding that, “As NRM party, what we are proud of is education. We have UPE products in Parliament now. We haven’t reached the quality, but we have reached the quantity. For me, that is basic”.
She also believes that even if the party has held power for 35 years now, the performance is not yet at 100% with issues like corruption and unemployment still a dilemma to solve. “It has been a journey and we have made substantial progress but we have not reached yet where we want to be”.
Namayanja is however optimistic that at the moment there is a foundation to build on. “We are now at the point where the countries can takeoff. All of us need a mindset change,” She said.
She, therefore, lauds the country’s security stability, saying that “development without security is impossible, and security without development is temporary”.
On the issue of mindset change, she said that Uganda being through years of rehabilitation, years of setting the foundation of a stable political dispensation, that what it needs is the aspect of national mindset change.
“Uganda is the only country in East and Central Africa where we have had nine Presidents even when we got independence largely around the same time. Therefore what we went through did not give us enough time to develop the mindset software like Singapore currently. We are now looking at mindset change, national consciousness,” Namayanja said.
She said that with initiatives like the NRM Ideological Clinics, people’s minds will be reshaped and Ugandans will feel the importance of such initiatives.
“At the NRM headquarters we have developed Ideological Clinics every Thursday to reshape the minds of our people and giving them a sense of identity as Ugandans,” She said.
According to Namayanja, at 59 years of independence, Uganda has a reason to celebrate because the country is not where it used to be. “Where we were and where we are now. Uganda has a cause to celebrate”
