Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, began a six-day march through the jungle on January 4 and is expected to end on January 10.
The 75-year-old ruler is using the 195km (121 miles) to retrace his forces’ 1986 route when they seized power after the fall of Idi Amin and Milton Obote.
The march will end in the western town of Birembo, where Museveni’s rebels and then-President Obote’s troops fought one of their fiercest battles.
“This is a journey that the president is leading, a journey through the past to appreciate the present,” Don Wanyama, Museveni’s senior press secretary, told AFP news agency. “The journey will take a week through the jungle, a route the liberators led by Museveni took to liberate the country.”
Critics say the march is a stunt ahead of Uganda’s elections next year when Museveni is expected to seek a sixth term in office.
Museveni is facing a challenge from pop star Bobi Wine, who portrays himself as a champion of the poor.
Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, told AFP that the president’s walk was “wasteful”.
“My advice is, rather than spending taxpayers’ money on such trips, Museveni should know time is up for him to leave power,” Wine said. “The time for hoodwinking peasants has passed him.”
Opposition MP Asuman Basalirwa also called the march a “campaigning tool”.
“Ugandans deserve better than a president walking through a jungle,” he said. “Time spent should be used for other important issues affecting the country, especially how he plans to hand over power.”
