The President of Burundi, General Évariste Ndayishimiye, has arrived in Uganda Saturday afternoon, for celebrations of 60 years of Uganda’s independence scheduled for tomorrow Sunday October 9, 2022 at Kololo.
Ndayishimiye was received at Entebbe International Airport by Hon Jacob Marksons Oboth, Uganda’s Minister of State for Defence.
He is the second Head of State to arrive in the country for the same function after Kenya’s President, Dr William Ruto, who arrived earlier.
Independence Day will be celebrated under the theme; October 9: A declaration of African interdependence and our shared destination.
The day’s activities shall include military fly-past and acrobatic dropdown of the UPDF commandos while awarding of medals was scrapped off the agenda on President Museveni’s order.
“There will be a number of activities including a parade mounted by various security departments. The function will be short and the President advised us to postpone the awarding of medals to next year’s function,” Gen Jim Muhwezi, the Minister of Security, said last week.
He said the diamond anniversary is a celebration of Uganda’s achievements that include economic growth, peace and security which have been observed for the last four decades under the NRM government.
“Uganda’s GDP per capita has increased and now stands at $1,046 (Shs3.7m) per person per year and real economic growth has been averaging at 6.1 percent since 1986. We cannot forget peace and security of Uganda and the whole Africa.
Uganda has not sat back when some African countries lacked peace. Together with other African countries, we put our boots on the ground in South Sudan, Somalia and other countries to ensure stability,” the minister remarked.
Muhwezi refuted allegations that at 60 years of Independence, there is gross abuse of human rights associated with unwarranted abductions of citizens, especially those on the Opposition.
He, however, promised to present the matter of abductions before the security council which is yet to sit this week.