Opposition Democratic Party are pushing back on President Yoweri Museveni’s recent directive to have one of his books mandatorily distributed to all government sponsored secondary schools.
The second edition of the book Sowing the Mustard Seed, will be made available in all government secondary school libraries.
A Ministry of Education circular called this a “donation” from President Yoweri Museveni.
But DP at a press conference today expressed worry over the kind of content that the president intends to expose to the school children.
The party press secretary Fred Mwesigwa told media today that the book’s content may not be suitable for O’ Level students, most of who are normally below the age of 18.
“The President cannot want these young children to know that things he did in Luweero. There were atrocities during that war and he categorically wrote about them in the book,” he said.
“The message in the book is that whoever wants to be president must fight and kill people. This material is poisonous to our children”
DP also questions the breach of procedure by the President and the Minister of Education who is also the First Lady, Janet Museveni, by prescribing a book to students which has not been approved by the Curriculum Development Center (CDC), warning that these ought to respect the education system in Uganda.
At the press conference, Mwesigwa said DP was prepared to take this matter to courts of law, if the decision is not rescinded.
“We ask the president through his wife to withdraw that book because it has not been approved by CDC. As DP we have the best lawyers in the country. If they go ahead and distribute that book, we are going to sue. We shall sue him as a person not as a president.”
However, according to the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Mr Nsubuga Lyazi, the book is aimed at “promoting proper understanding, appreciation and loyalty of Uganda’s national identity,” which is every secondary school’s responsibility.
He says, “It is intended to enlighten our school going youths about our national history, which is very critical to laying a firm foundation for responsible citizenship.”