Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - October 27, 2005
Q: Your country has made enormous strides in reducing over ten years' prevalence of AIDS, 15% down to 6% in the last couple of years.
A: AIDS is not very infectious. You don't get it through handshakes. You don't get AIDS through breathing, you don't get AIDS through insect bites. Its therefore rather easy to stop because it only spreads through a few ways. Unprotected sex, using unsterilised instruments, blood transfusion and mother to child. Therefore it is very easy to stop by simply telling people how it spreads. What we did we just alerted our people.
Q: Some of the human rights groups are concerned now that you are focusing most of your efforts on abstinence as the only way.
A: That's not true at all. We are focusing on ABC. Abstinence, Being faithful, and Condoms for those who can't use the two. Infact these days, we are using ABC plus, like stopping Mother to Child Transmission, use of ARVs for infected. So, it is a package of measures.
Q: Recently the ICC issued its first indictment for Joseph Kony and his associates. Are you going to do all you can to bring these people to justice so that that they are turned over to ICC?
A: We have already killed one. We killed him 10 weeks ago and therefore there are only four. We are hunting them deep in Sudan and in Congo. We shall therefore work with Sudan and the UN in Congo because its has got a presence there as well as Congo, and we shall get them, apprehend then and hand them over to the ICC.
Q: Do you regard the indictment of these individuals as helpful or harmful to the possibility of making some form of ceasefire in the north?
A: It is helpful. The indictment is not important inside Uganda because for us we are hunting for them, with or without it. However, beyond our borders is is important because then it makes our neighbours obliged to cooperate and hunt for them. Even those who were tolerating or ignoring them will no longer do that because it's now the whole world.
Q: In the 90s much of the American-African experts have looked at you as a new type of African leader who was moderate, against corruption, forward-looking for your country and the world, but these people look at the decision to make it possible for you to be president over and over again as a kind of approach African leaders have taken that worries the World. Do you wanna be president for life?
A: Not at all, and more over, these people are just mixing up issues. When there was the phenomenon of president for life that was in the 60's and 70's, when there was really no democracy. In a situation like in Malawi where we had Kamuzu Banda, where he would be the only candidate and the electorate would be required to vote either Yes or No. Now, with multiple candidates, and multiple parties, there is no possibility of having a life presidency, unless he is popular. Moreover, even if he was popular, he cannot go on forever. He would not go beyond a certain age. Our constitution says you cannot be president beyond 75.
Q: When were you first leader of Uganda?
A: I was 41, 42.
Q: When you make it to 75, that is a long time, that's almost your whole life!
A: I will not make it to 75 years. I am sure because I have got a lot of other things to do.
Q: If the constitution allows you, if the referendum allows you to run again, how long do you see yourself running for president in Uganda? Are you happy for amending to change the constitution? Is that what you want?
A: What was resolved in that amendment was whether we should be rigid, or we should be flexible, where we opted for flexibility. This is because Africa has got a lot of things to deal with. We've got a lot of issues.
Q: Why is it hard for you? You say you don't know? You don't know what happened in Zimbabwe, you know the tragedy those people have gone through under his leadership. Why are you so reluctant?
A: We are not reluctant. What you are saying is not accurate. Idi Amin was removed by us, not the West. We are the ones who fought Idi Amin, with a few allies. We are the ones who removed Mobutu. But we are people who don't hasten to pass judgement. We take our time. We don't use media to talk about other people.
Q: The leaders who are going to provide assistance and debt relief in the West have said that theirs is the responsibility to provide assistance and debt relief, but the responsibility of African leaders is to provide transparent governance. Is that fair?
A: Yes, If I was giving somebody money, I would also insist they don't steal that money. Corruption, to make sure money is not misused, but the other three elements are necessary. even if you have got a corruption-free government but if you don't encourage private sector growth, and gain trade access, you would not transform the economy.
Asked whether he will not be tempted to run again after the lifting term limits, Museveni defended more, saying it allowed flexibility.
"What was resolved in that amendment was whether we should be rigid, or we should be flexible, and we opted for flexibility. This is because Africa has a lot of things to deal with. We have got a lot of issues," he said.
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