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President Yoweri Museveni has sharply rebuked veteran journalist Andrew Mwenda in an unusually direct public statement, defending his support for Ugandan scientists Dr Matthias Magoola and David Ssenfuka.
Museveni accused Mwenda of attacking government-backed innovation without verifying the facts on the ground.
The exchange began after Mwenda criticised Museveni over his continued backing of Dr Magoola and Ssenfuka’s work and reportedly described the president as senile.
Museveni responded in a lengthy letter released on Saturday evening, dismissing the criticism and urging Mwenda to visit the projects himself before questioning their legitimacy.
“Why do you not interview these ‘conmen’ such as Magoola, Ssenfuka, etc.?” Museveni wrote. “They are here in Uganda. They are where you can reach them and even the assets they have put on the ground.”
He went on to name several projects he said demonstrate Uganda’s growing local innovation and industrial capacity, including Dr Magoola’s factories in Matugga and Kamuli, herbal medicine developed by Ssenfuka, Nelson Tugume’s factory in Ntungamo and Professor Muranga’s banana project in Bushenyi.
At the heart of Museveni’s response is a broader argument he has made for years: that Uganda must move away from exporting raw materials and instead focus on adding value through local processing and manufacturing.
To explain that position, the president compared the earnings from unprocessed exports with finished products.
He said a kilogram of gold exported at 84 per cent purity brings in about $60,000, while fully refined gold can fetch $168,000. Coffee, he added, earns between $25 and $40 per kilogram when processed, compared with about $2.50 in raw form.
Museveni said government policy has been built around closing that gap.
He cited Uganda’s decision to ban exports of unprocessed minerals and said the country now has ten gold refineries.
According to the president, Uganda’s gold exports have reached $7.48 billion. He also pointed to coffee exports, saying production has grown from three million bags to 8.8 million bags and now generates $2.4 billion.
For ordinary Ugandans, those figures matter because they tie directly into one of the government’s central economic promises: that industrialisation can create jobs, raise incomes and keep more value inside the country instead of sending it abroad.
Museveni linked that strategy to programmes such as the Parish Development Model, the government’s flagship initiative aimed at helping households move into the money economy through targeted financial support and production.
He questioned why Mwenda had dismissed those efforts rather than supporting them.
“Does this great Andrew Mwenda live in Uganda?” Museveni wrote. “Have you heard of PDM and the other funds? If you are a patriot, why do you not participate in making them work?”
The president’s letter also took a political turn. He accused Mwenda of leaking internal government and cabinet discussions on social media and suggested that doing so could undermine investor confidence at a time when Uganda says the economy is growing at 6.3 per cent annually.
“What could be the real motive of Andrew Mwenda for externalising our internal discussions, including the Cabinet?” Museveni asked. “It is to scare away our partners.”
Museveni also revived an older disagreement, saying Mwenda had previously been among those who opposed Uganda’s partnership with American Energy Service during the Bujagali Electricity Project in 2003, a move he said contributed to years of electricity shortages that followed.
The president used the letter to defend his broader economic record, listing sectors he said had expanded despite criticism, including dairy, coffee, bananas, fruit processing, palm oil and steel manufacturing.
He acknowledged that government projects do not always succeed immediately but argued that setbacks are part of building long-term economic transformation.
“Even if we were to make a mistake in the effort to industrialize Uganda, achieve import-substitution and export promotion, it would be better than merely careening on in the neo-colonial doldrums,” he wrote.
See full statement below
Mr. Mwenda,
Thank you for declaring me senile and incapable of sound judgment. You will, however, discover that at 82, I am still able to defend Uganda and myself with the Bible, the AK-47 and the pen.
You are supposed to be a journalist. Why do you not interview these “conmen” such as Magoola, Ssenfuka and others? They are here in Uganda.
They are accessible to you, together with the assets they have established on the ground. Visit Magoola’s factories in Matugga and Kamuli. Interview people who testify that they were cured by Ssenfuka’s herbal mixtures. Visit Tugume’s factory in Ntungamo. Visit Professor Muranga’s banana project in Bushenyi.
You are ashamed and dare not speak about Kiira Motors because it exposes the neo-colonial agents like Mwenda. The do-nothingers like Andrew Mwenda, always running around noisily spreading falsehoods, claim they are saving government money from so-called loss-making projects.
Yet they happily and gleefully co-exist with the neo-colonial status quo that confines Africa to producing and exporting unprocessed raw materials, where we lose enormous value.
The other day I gave the example of gold. The parasites who abound in Africa export gold at 84 percent purity and earn USD 60,000. A kilogram of fully refined gold at 99.9 percent purity goes for USD 168,000.
How much value is lost there? A kilogram of processed coffee earns between USD 25 and USD 40 depending on the brand, yet raw coffee brings in only USD 2.50 per kilogram.
The stubborn old man of Uganda, whom you call senile, banned the export of all unprocessed minerals. There are now 10 gold refineries in Uganda. Gold exports have now reached USD 7.48 billion.
The great Mwenda talks about small capital for smallholders. Does this great Andrew Mwenda live in Uganda? Have you heard of the Parish Development Model and the other government funds?
If you are a patriot, why do you not participate in making them work? Where they have been properly implemented, they have produced impressive results. What else explains the boom in coffee production from 3 million bags to now 8.8 million bags, earning the country USD 2.4 billion?
As a freedom fighter, I have always stood firmly for patriotism, Pan-Africanism, socio-economic transformation and democracy. I am never swayed by traitors or foreign agents. That is how we overcome challenges.
What could be Andrew Mwenda’s real motive in taking our internal discussions, including Cabinet matters, to social media? It is to scare away our partners because people like Andrew Mwenda are worried by Uganda’s economic success, with growth now standing at 6.3 percent per annum.
This is not the first time Mwenda has done this. He was part of those who contributed to Uganda’s load-shedding from 2005 onwards after sabotaging our partnership with AES (American Energy Service) in 2003 on the Bujagali Electricity Project, where they were expected to produce electricity at US cents 4.9 per kilowatt-hour.
Ebikorimo by’enkoko tebitta kamunye, the curses of the chicken do not kill the kite.
Ugandans should ignore the likes of Andrew Mwenda. They are always trying to sabotage our growth and transformation.
The growth of the commercial dairy industry in the cattle corridor, increasing milk production from 200 million litres to 5.3 billion litres, the banana industry, the fruit industry in Teso, Luwero, Kayunga and Masaka, the palm oil industry in Kalangala, Buvuma, Bundibugyo and Maruzi, the coffee industry already mentioned, and the steel industry have all faced opposition from people like Andrew Mwenda.
We have succeeded despite their sabotage.
Even if we were to make mistakes in our effort to industrialise Uganda, achieve import substitution and promote exports, that would still be better than remaining trapped in neo-colonial stagnation.
We attacked Kabamba twice and did not succeed. On the third attempt, we achieved great success. Failure, from which lessons are learned, becomes success.
Among the Banyankore, when a baby is learning to walk and falls down, we encourage the child by saying:
“Siinga abarezi, siinga abarezi, tengerera, tengerera.”
We do not do what Mwenda is doing by declaring: “The child will never stand.” When you do that, you become omwinazi — an ill-wisher.
Aluta Continua. Victory is certain.
Signed,
Yoweri K. MuseveniSsaabalwanyi
Related
, https://observer.ug/news/museveni-mwenda-clash-over-magoola/
