KAMPALA – President Yoweri Museveni has said that women are the base of society and, therefore, should not be marginalized.
Museveni in a tweet said that from the very beginning, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) did not agree with the old societies’ practice of marginalizing women and went ahead to recruit them into the liberation Army even when everyone thought they would not be able to fight.
“Old societies decided to marginalize and suppress them,” he said adding that “this has since changed with the recruitment of women in the armed forces since 1986 by the NRA.”
He said that because of the NRM policies, women have now joined the Army yet previously they were only in the Police Force. In education, the President said that the number of girls joining university has also increased since the government introduced the 1.5 points of affirmative action.
President Museveni is currently officiating at the international women’s day celebrations in Mbale.
His wife Janet Museveni in her message said women are a strong resource to the development of this great nation.
“I would suggest that we agree on a theme annually, which we then celebrate on the 8th of March, having made some gains.”
“This theme should be for every woman, from the woman raising a family to the woman leading in an official capacity in governance. Then we can measure our progress and see our impact on our nation.”