Faith Nyasuguta
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, now 80, has confirmed he will run for a seventh term in the 2026 elections – but this time he’s pledging something he says will mark a real shift: transforming Uganda into a fully knowledge-based, science-driven economy. The long-serving leader says this “final phase” will take the country beyond the export of raw materials and simple goods and position Uganda as a regional hub for innovation, research, and advanced manufacturing.
Having led the country since 1986, Museveni is already one of Africa’s longest-ruling presidents, having outlasted term limits and age restrictions by amending the 1995 constitution twice. He argues his steady hand has brought Uganda through five clear phases: from economic rescue to growth, diversification and value addition. Now, he says, it’s time to push the country into a scientific age that will finally break its cycle of exporting cheap raw products and importing expensive finished ones.
In a recent address, Museveni retraced his government’s “journey.” He said the first task, decades ago, was “minimum economic recovery” after years of civil war and chaos. Next came rebuilding key exports like coffee and tea. Then, Phase Three brought diversification – getting Uganda to depend on more than just a handful of commodities. The fourth phase, he insists, has been about adding value locally by encouraging factories and agro-processing plants to handle Ugandan produce at home rather than sending it abroad for processing.
What, then, is truly new? According to Museveni, the “fifth phase” – a full knowledge economy -means ramping up local scientific research, investing heavily in technology, and building industries around Ugandan talent. He claims this will finally end the country’s old cycle of exporting raw coffee beans and re-importing costly finished coffee. In his words: “Now, the fifth phase is the knowledge economy based on science. We have gone through these five phases or have entered these phases.”
But even as he pitched this “scientific revolution,” Museveni hinted there’s more up his sleeve. “There’s something else I will not talk about today, but I will talk about another time,” he teased his supporters – though critics argue this is the same promise repackaged yet again.
Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) says he will officially pick up nomination forms soon. His main challenger is expected to be Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, the opposition leader who claims the last election was stolen through intimidation and fraud.
As Uganda’s fourth-longest ruling head of state – behind Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang, Cameroon’s Paul Biya and Congo Republic’s Denis Sassou-Nguesso -Museveni shows no sign of stepping aside. His supporters credit him with bringing stability and steady growth, while opponents accuse him of stifling democracy and clinging to power at all costs.
If re-elected, the big question is whether Museveni’s promise of a high-tech Uganda will be any different from previous pledges of industrialisation and modernisation that many say remain unfinished. For ordinary Ugandans facing high youth unemployment and rising living costs, whether the president’s “knowledge revolution” can deliver tangible change may well decide if his seventh term will truly stand apart – or simply extend more of the same.
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