“There must be elimination of dictatorship and then a new group comes in to manage power differently; we don’t want to repeat what has happened in 58 years: that one group leaves power and then one which comes in promises to do better and does the same things like the one which it removed,” Muntu said.
Muntu further singled out the growing debt burden of Shs 1.2 million which he says has been placed on every single Ugandan including a baby as one of the reasons why it is time for Museveni to leave. According to reports, Uganda’s total public debt grew from Shs 46.36 trillion at the end of June 2019 to Shs 48.91 trillion by end of December 2019 due to increased borrowing by government. However, officials from the ministry of Finance argue that the debt level is still sustainable since it is below 50 per cent of GDP threshold.
“If you distribute the national debt amongst the total population, even the young kid is carrying debt of Shs 1.2 million and we must pay the debt. Therefore, there are two things that have to be done simultaneously. Develop the economy so that we can solve problems of slum, education, health, and infrastructure but as we pay the debt,” Muntu said.
He added that there will also be a need to have a team in case of borrowing more money to ensure that the funds are put into productive areas. According to Muntu, people are frustrated with the huge public debt and the rot in different sectors hence the need for the population to focus on the ten remaining presidential candidates for a leader better than Museveni.
“You can see the frustration that people have with him [Museveni] and it is almost the entire country. So the question is now moving our people to know that Museveni can be sorted out once they are strong and firm, they can sort him out. We’re trying to shift their mind to think on their future after Museveni. He does not impact them when he’s in government and because of the frustration he causes them for them to even think about the life after. Because we want them to focus on ensuring that all of the 10, we focus very critically amongst us and get a team of leaders who are going to resolve the problems of this country,” Muntu said.
Gen. Muntu also mentioned the failed health system under the current leadership as another reason why Museveni must go. He promised that once elected president, he is to ensure that the country has a National Health Insurance scheme to enable citizens to access decent healthcare at low costs. Muntu has also pledged to ensure that there is better and low-cost housing in order to eliminate slums.
He said that ANT has taken time to prepare its self and that it is ready to provide leadership that is value driven.
“It is possible to lift all this slum and ensure that there a low-cost housing in a planned way but there are a number of things that must be done. You must know the land on which these slums are, is it public land, is it private land. If it is private land, it means you have to negotiate to buy it and then construct units which the owners can own. But you must work on ensuring that they have the means to own those houses…enabling them to have the capacity to pay for mortgages and also plan to build the low-cost housing…there is no way you can say a country is developed when there is still slums,” Muntu added.
Tomorrow Wednesday, Muntu heads to western Uganda where he will continue with his campaign in Ntungamo.