Over the weekend, a group of doctors in Uganda made headlines when they knelt before longtime President Yoweri Museveni and urged him to run for a seventh term.
Since 1986, the 78-year-old leader has been in charge. The following general election is scheduled for 2026.
According to media coverage of the occasion, the doctors who were there on behalf of the Uganda Medical Association (UMA) had just finished a symposium on patriotism in the nation’s capital, Kampala, when they were directed by their leader to bow before the president.
According to the Nile Post news site, UMA head Dr. Samuel Odongo Oledo complimented the president in his speech for modernizing the nation’s healthcare system and enhancing the welfare of medical professionals.
He then asked President Museveni to run for president once again in 2026, according to the NTV television station.
Social media users were outraged by the gesture and accused the group of pandering to politicians.
The UMA, however, disavowed the gesture in a tweet, claiming that it did not “reflect the association’s mode of operation.”
The statement read: “Uganda Medical Association has always engaged the president in official, professional ways, including recognizing him through our annual awards.”
