Monday, June 9, 2014
"The biggest problem Africa has had for a long time is pseudo-ideology," Museveni told youths at the 2nd Convention of the Great Lakes Students' Union at Makerere University here over the weekend.
The convention brought together past and present student leaders from universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Burundi.
The packed session held inside Makerere's Main Hall also drew attendance from students' associations from Nigeria, Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"The chaos in Uganda between 1966 and 1986 during which 800,000 people were killed in violence and all the conflict in Somalia, South Sudan and the DRC revolves around one word -- pseudo ideology," Museveni asserted.
He likened false ideas to incorrect diagnosis of illness by a doctor, leading to wrong prescription and death.
"If people believe in witchcraft, instead of looking for germs or plasmodium which cause illness, they will say one has been bewitched," he noted.
Museveni said false ideology was manifested through sectarianism based on tribe, religion and gender chauvinism.
Citing his own tribe of cattle keepers, the Banyankole, he said they have been able to prosper by selling milk, beef, bananas, coffee and tea to other communities of Uganda and at regional and international markets.
"If I started a campaign to identify myself with Banyankole, in whose interest would I be serving? I would be a parasite. My interest is in Uganda, East Africa, Africa and friends from afar," he added.
-- BERNAMA-NNN-NEW VISION