Museveni blames Mugisha Muntu for blocking power deal that led to load-shedding

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has accused Major General Mugisha Muntu of helping to block an electricity generation deal that he says contributed to the load-shedding crisis ahead of the 2006 elections.

“In 2006 we had the additional annoyance and irritation caused by the problem of load-shedding of electricity (the shortage of electricity). Shortage of electricity caused by whom and by what? Caused by the Parliament of that time including Major-General Mugisha Muntu who in the recent elections has been expending so much energy, telling lies,” Museveni said.

The President said lawmakers rejected what he described as a favourable agreement with an American investor.

“They are the ones who blocked the very good deal I had struck with the Christians of the American Prayer-breakfast groups led by a group known as American Energy Services that had offered to build Bujagaali and produce electricity at US cents 4.9per kilowatt hour (kwhr),” he said.

Museveni made the remarks while reflecting on past elections and the factors that shaped Uganda’s political landscape in a statement posted on X on Thursday, February 12.

He noted that earlier divisions in the country stemmed partly from the failure to implement mass-oriented policies designed to tackle poverty, education costs and corruption.

“Had these 3 been implemented seriously, we would not have had challenges that became more prominent later, such as poverty, school drop-outs, ghetto-children, land-grabbing, etc.,” he said, referring to Entandikwa, Universal Primary Education (UPE) and land reforms.

The President added that the political environment became more cohesive by the 2011 elections after peace returned to northern Uganda.

“In the elections of 2011, there was more cohesion, mainly because peace had returned to the North and our people there were beginning to be more positive,” he said.

Museveni also criticised what he called election malpractice following the reintroduction of the secret ballot.

“Ever since the introduction of the secret ballot in 1994 vote for the CA, ballot cheating had started again,” he said.

He revealed that some electoral officials once offered to manipulate results in favour of the ruling party, an offer he says he rejected.

“They offered that they could cheat for NRM like they had been cheating for the opposition. I told them that I did not want anybody to cheat for me. Instead, I told them that they should use their privileged position of being Electoral Commission cheaters, to stop cheating,” Museveni said.

The President maintained that Uganda needs durable solutions to electoral malpractice and governance challenges to prevent future political fragmentation.