Museveni Tells US Press - I Could Decline to Run in 2016

Museveni has told the media in the United States how he prides in the role he has played in getting Uganda back on track through his thirty year tenure as the president of the Republic of Uganda.

“There is so much freedom in Uganda that it’s nearly anarchy,” Museveni joked, during an interview with the Associated Press in New York yesterday.
Casual in an un-tucked dress shirt during an interview at his hotel room in midtown Manhattan, the president gave his version of power and succession on the sidelines of his appearance at a high-level U.N. meeting, where he scolded the United States and the other permanent members of the Security Council on their approaches to Africa’s problems.
He had earlier on Tuesday met with White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice to discuss the conflicts in South Sudan and the Darfur region of Sudan.

Museveni in the interview is quoted as saying he could choose not to stand in the coming 2016 general elections although he refused to speak more about this possibility.
“There are conditions under which I might decline to run,” he said, “but they are not for the press to know.” (Why not for the press to know)
He said however that the ongoing legal efforts to block his candidature on the basis of his old age were an unlikely reason. Radio Katwe believes that such remarks by Museveni are a clear indication that he will run for presidency.

Museveni will be turning 71 next September, and once elected again, the next term will take him over the constitutional 75 years presidential age limit. A number of his critics including his former spymaster Gen David Sejusa are banking on this to block Museveni’s candidature.
Museveni said however, that he would let court decide on this matter, adding that all powers to decide on who will be carrying the NRM flag still remains in the hands of the ruling party.
“Whoever the party chooses will win. Absolutely, but we shall see that when we get there,” he noted.
Museveni further dismissed allegation that he was grooming his son Brig Muhoozi Kainerugaba to take over from him, stressing that it’s not always his wish but that of his party and the country that matters.
Dismissing accusations from critics that his rule over three decades has become more and more authoritarian, far from the days when former President Bill Clinton praised him as one of a “new breed” of reform-minded African leaders, Museveni said, “If anybody has been bullied, it is me.”