“Muhoozi And My Daughters Have The Same Rights” Museveni Echoes On Gender Balance

President Yoweri Museveni has delivered a powerful commitment to absolute gender equality in Uganda, affirming that both boys and girls must enjoy parallel and robust opportunities essential for the nation’s social and economic advancement.

The President made these remarks during a recent engagement with young people at the Unstoppable Movement event, where he directly responded to a pertinent question from the audience. A participant had inquired why government development programmes appeared to place a disproportionately high focus on the girl child, seemingly neglecting the boy child.

In a detailed explanation, President Museveni clarified that this heightened attention on the female demographic was a deliberate, strategic measure designed to rectify deep-seated, long-standing cultural distortions that have historically marginalized and disadvantaged women and girls in Uganda’s society.

“Some people are saying, why are you only talking about the girl child and not the boy child? This was just to deal with the cultural distortion where girls were really forgotten in inheritance,” the President stated clearly.

This focus, therefore, is not about exclusion, but about correction and equitable balance.

Dismantling the Logic of Outdated Cultural Systems

President Museveni further delved into the historical underpinnings of these inequalities. He reminded the youth that many traditional Ugandan communities were structured around patrilineal and exogamous systems. In a patrilineal system, inheritance rights are strictly passed down through the male line, essentially bypassing the daughters.

The exogamous practice strictly enforced marriage outside one’s own clan. He acknowledged that these deeply rooted systems, though seemingly unfair today, had historical rationales, such as ensuring clan protection and preventing intermarriage.

However, he firmly asserted that these reasons are now obsolete in the context of a modern, unified nation.

“In the past there were wars between clans. That is why they didn’t want the girl to take cows to a clan they may fight tomorrow. But those things are finished now,” Museveni explained, emphasizing that the era of inter-clan conflict is over and, consequently, the discriminatory practices that served that era must also end.

An Unwavering Stand for Equal Rights and Inheritance

The President stressed that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) government maintains an unflinching principle of equal rights for every child in Uganda, irrespective of their gender.

To underscore this commitment, he offered a powerful personal testimony regarding his own family’s inheritance structure. He made it clear that gender does not dictate property rights within his household.

“My girls here have equal rights with Muhoozi. Although they are married, their share in my wealth remains secured. There is no way you can say my girls have no share,” the President declared, providing a strong personal example of his belief in equitable inheritance practices.

Expanding National Skilling and Development Hubs

Moving to the topic of economic empowerment and vocational training, the President addressed concerns about the accessibility of the national skilling programmes. He dispelled the notion that these programmes are exclusively concentrated in the capital city, Kampala.

President Museveni confirmed that these essential training hubs are distributed across the country and are not geographically restricted. He emphasized the government’s readiness to expand this crucial initiative further to meet demand.

“Soroti, Katakwi and many other areas have skilling hubs. If you want them in Jinja and other places, we can do it. Skilling is for everyone,” he affirmed, highlighting that vocational training is a universal tool intended for the empowerment of all Ugandan youth.

As the insightful engagement session drew to a close, President Museveni expressed his gratitude to the young attendees for their thought-provoking questions and encouraged them all to remain dedicated to the overarching national goal of development and prosperity.