President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni has advised Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth to take advantage of population and common language to exploit the advancement of all partner states.
The President made the remarks on Thursday at the opening of the 27th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) taking place in Kampala.
The head of State noted that it was the philosophical, ideological and strategic shallowness for the Commonwealth member states to exist at cross-purposes, yet they have abundant advantages that could enhance mutual cooperation.
Calling colonialism a waste of time, Museveni said a lot can still be salvaged instead of the chauvinism of many actors.
“The greed is a miscalculation; this is why empires collapse; all of them, without exception, because they are essentially evil,” he told the over 30 Speakers and Presiding Officers attending the three-day conference.
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“A whole century was wasted on account of promoting parasitism instead of symbiosis; stop manipulation and lectures to societies that are different from you; if you think you are right, influence people by your example,” the Ugandan leader added.
Museveni pointed out that the Commonwealth is among the positive practices that veterans of the resistance against colonialism salvaged, which he said should be employed to widen prosperity among member states.
“When the dangerous illusions of empires were defeated, the elders of the countries decided not to throw away everything,” he said, highlighting the English language as an example of the things maintained, which could be helpful in easing trade among nations.
Established in 1969, the CSPOC operates on a bi-annual basis, where Speakers and Presiding Officers of the national parliaments of the independent sovereign states of the Commonwealth converge to understand the various forms of parliamentary diplomacy.
The main theme of the CSPOC is to foster and encourage fairness on the part of speakers and presiding officers of the Commonwealth.