Speaker Tayebwa hits back at Alien Skin on Museveni campaign claim

Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, has firmly rejected suggestions that President Yoweri Museveni and the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party are using artists for their selfish political gain.

The Speaker was directly addressing concerns raised by popular musician, Alien Skin, who accused the NRM and president Museveni of working with musicians, ‘only for the votes’

Alien Skin had made a sharp critique of the transactional nature of NRM’s interaction with musicians and voters.

He stated, “The problem is that on the ground where we are, people who come to look for votes, make it as if voting is all they care about. In the end, we fail to make our own demands about the real basic things we need and expect from them.”

This was at the launch of the “Unstoppable UG” campaign, an initiative driven by NRM youth supporters geared towards driving President Museveni’s re-election bid. 

In response, Tabebwa said Alien’s analysis was off.

“I heard my brother Alien Skin emphasising that Mzee’s only interest in artists is their votes. That is not true, we are not only looking for your vote,” Tayebwa asserted.

He insisted that the government's primary focus is to foster a citizenry that actively contributes to national development.

“We want you to work harder and be more productive as a Ugandan. We want to see you helping other people,” he explained. 

Tayebwa cited the singer’s own humanitarian efforts, specifically his support for the Ghetto youths under Fangone Forest, as a model for this vision.

 “Now like the Ghetto Kids that you are currently helping… we want to see more of that. If you were helping 10 we want to see 20, and for them to also support others.”

The Speaker added that the NRM is actively discouraging a culture of dependency. 

“We don't want to see a citizenry that only focuses on producing children to be taken care of by the government.” He concluded by stressing that the votes received are ultimately used to set up the necessary infrastructure and enabling environment from which all productive Ugandans can benefit.