A cross-section of opposition leaders have criticised the State of the Nation Address delivered by the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at parliament as shallow in content and out of touch with the real problems that affect Ugandans today.
This comes shortly after Museveni delivered an address that sharply condemned the opposition’s demand for electoral reforms and the threats of some sections of the opposition to boycott the 2011 elections.
The President of the Democratic Party Norbert Mao describes the Museveni’s address says Museveni’s attack on the demand for electoral reforms was unwarranted because the demands of the electoral reforms are not merely demands of the different political parties but the demands of all Ugandans.
Mao has also said that Museveni’s address shows how he has fallen a victim of promising too much yet delivering very little and that that is the reason why all he could tell the nation was repeating the same things that he was telling Ugandans three years ago without showing anything new that his government has done in terms of development this year.
The President of the People’s Development Party, Dr. Abed Bwanika says the President’s address was more of a campaign manifesto than a State of the Nation Address because the president was stressing more of his exaggerated promises than showing Ugandans how his government has developed the country in the past year.
He says the Museveni’s address has given no serious emphasis to many aspects that concern the lay Ugandans for example the biting poverty that continues to affect many Ugandans and his government hopes to strategically tackle this problem.
The Woman MP for Soroti Alice Alaso says no wonder that the opposition did not stand up in the house and remained seated after the president had delivered his address because such a poorly crafted address does deserve a standing ovation.
But several NRM MPs have widely praised the president’s state of the nation address for 2010 as well prepared and factual presentation of development in Uganda.
By Zacharia Tiberindwa, Ultimate Media
