Museveni has been president since 1986, but at one time Idi Amin was president of Uganda.
Posted on 03/04/2023 2:16:24 PM PST by nickcarraway
Mr Museveni, who was in a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria, said a friendly environment in Uganda makes it unnecessary for one to work harder
Pretoria. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has told the South African business community, while pitching trade opportunities in Uganda, that the citizens he has led for nearly three decades are lazy.
Mr Museveni, who was in a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in Pretoria, said a friendly environment in Uganda makes it unnecessary for one to work harder.
"... we at the equator ... we have two rainy seasons - that is why these Ugandans are lazy... because life is very easy for them. You don't have to work very hard. Even a fool can survive in Uganda," Mr Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, told a powerful business and ministerial team.
The meeting was aired on SABC TV, a South African public broadcaster.
President Museveni's comments were followed by verbal expressions of wonder by his hosts, including President Ramaphosa.
In his foreign and local engagements, Mr Museveni has consistently, without statistical proof, accused Ugandans of being lazy in front of their business competitors.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Ugandans rank highest among the most entrepreneurial people in the world.
Ugandans have also emerged leaders in several disciplines at the regional and international levels, including in firms owned by South African companies.
President Museveni, 78, visited South Africa to strengthen trade and ties between the countries. The trade volumes between them have been dropping, with more than 34 giant South African firms leaving Uganda due to insufficient market opportunities. Only 36 South African firms are remain in the East African country.
President Museveni used the same platform to ask South African investors to consider Uganda's agro-based industry. President Ramaphosa responde said he is interested in investing in irrigation in Uganda.
Uganda is South Africa’s 15th-largest trading partner in Africa and the second largest in East Africa, according to South African government figures.
Between 2017 and 2021, the trade volumee between the two countries reached a peak of $162 million.
South Africa’s exports to Uganda amounted to $169 million in 2018, while its imports from Uganda increased from $6.8 million in 2017 to $17.5 million in 2020.
Guests at a business forum in Pretoria, South Africa, addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa and Yoweri Museveni.
On the issue of insecurity in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, President Museveni said Uganda suggested using militias to protect the people, something which the Congolese government opposed.
"In Eastern DRC, we intervened with our army but there is what we can't do. It can only be done by the locals - to build an army, to build a militia force. They fear a militia force.When we say build a militia force, they say it will turn against us," President Museveni said.
"How will a militia turn against you? The militias are defending themselves against terrorists. Why would they be against you unless you've got something evil you are doing?"
He said he and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi discussed whether to work with them, as freedom fighters, or work with colonalists.
In 2021, Uganda sent over 4,000 troops in Eastern DRC to fight Ugandan rebels of the Allied Democratic Forces, who have camped in the region for decades.
Museveni has been president since 1986, but at one time Idi Amin was president of Uganda.
bkmk
On the plus side, a villager stole my friend's property. The villagers not only caught the crook but also stoned him to death.
I think the world knew that.
I doubt it’s true. Ugandans rate among the highest in entrepreneurship.
Sure, that's why so many Ugandans have to bust their a##es exploited in near slave labor conditions and treated like dirt in Arabian countries. Sorry M7, time to accept personal responsibility for your failures as well as a few successes and stop blaming others.
Then it must be quite a country.
I don’t know much about Uganda (except about the Uganda Martyrs and about Idi Amin) but I have a feeling something is being lost in the translation or the cultural context. One could understand him to be saying something like, “The production and business environment in Uganda is so good, no one has to work hard to be successful there, including foreign investors.”
“ He said he and DRC President Felix Tshisekedi discussed whether to work with them, as freedom fighters, or work with colonialists.”
Well, since King Leopold has been dead for over a century, they must be talking about South Africans or Chinese.
"African chiefs were the ones waging war on each other and capturing their own people and selling them. If anyone should apologise it should be the African chiefs. We still have those traitors here even today." Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda, 1998
This isn’t the first time or context in which he’s called Ugandans lazy.
Yes, I know; I read the article. It doesn’t record any outrage or objection from his fellow Ugandans about it. That’s why I tend to think it’s possibly some kind of local expression.
Nope. Too many contexts before this he’s criticized Ugandans as “lazy”, even though this time their is a humor and business aspect.
Ugandans rate among the highest in entrepreneurship.
So the two can go together, with great success.
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The ambitious and entrepreneurial amongst them migrated to America (the talented ten percent). What’s left over are lazy dregs which is why all of Africa is a cesspool.
There is a REASON for hit pieces like this - as anyone familiar with what he’s said about gays would understand.
“Ugandans are tasty.” — Idi Amin
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