President back from Uganda

Museveni yesterday afternoon.

Earlier on, the President had received a rapturous welcome from thousands of people who hailed him as a continental “elder.”
President Museveni took the oath of office after winning the presidential elections on his NRM party ticket after garnering 68 percent of the ballots in an election held in February.

The ceremony, which attracted thousands of Ugandans clad in national regalia and that of NRM party, was held at the Kololo Airstrip in that nation’s capital Kampala.
Several continental dignitaries attended the event, including DRC president Joseph Kabila, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete, Kenyan deputy prime minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, continental statesman and former Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi and African Union commission head Jean Ping, among a host of leaders.

President Mugabe, who is the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, was introduced to the gathering by his counterpart President Museveni as “our elder.”
He was greeted to cheers that stole the occasion as the people shouted “Kiboko ya muzungu” (cane of the white man). They were referring to President Mugabe’s equality agenda that continues to make economic opportunities available to all Zimbabweans.

This is as opposed to the previously skewered situation in which mostly white people held the reigns to key sectors of the economy.
The Museveni administration promises to regain the economy and build from the empowerment drive.

“Let us build the foundation of the house-which is the infrastructure. It is also the foundation of the economy. Let us build this. We have achieved peace, but we now need the economy,” President Museveni had said ahead of the ceremony.

He hailed Ugandans for showing unity of purpose and holding generally peaceful elections.
President Museveni took a swipe, albeit subtly, at the calibre of African opposition leaders, who pander to the whims of Western nations pursuing a divisive Western agenda.

“We reject puppetry and stand for the independence of Uganda and other African countries,” said President Museveni.
President Mugabe was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and other senior Government officials.
He was received at the Harare International Airport yesterday by Vice President Joice Mujuru, senior Government officials and service chiefs.