“President Museveni Engages Youth at ‘Jazz with Jajja’ Event at State Lodge Nakasero

On January 4, 2026, Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni addressed a youth engagement event called "Jazz with Jajja," hosted by his daughter, First Daughter Natasha Museveni Karugire, at State Lodge Nakasero. The interactive session brought together content creators, journalists, digital entrepreneurs, and influencers to discuss pressing continental and national issues.Museveni used the recent U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (which occurred on January 3, 2026, during a military operation that removed him and his wife from Venezuela to face drug-trafficking and related charges in New York) as a stark example of the vulnerabilities faced by weaker or fragmented regions in global power dynamics.He warned that the incident highlights global power imbalances and the risks to nations lacking strong strategic capabilities. Museveni emphasized the urgent need for Africa to bolster its defenses across land, sea, air, and space, cautioning that without building economic strength, political unity, and military/strategic capacity, the continent remains exposed to external interference.Quoting Museveni: "The time is now for Africans to realise the problem at hand and see how to deal with it." He added that while details of Maduro's arrest continue to emerge, it exposes the dangers of strategic weakness, noting skeptically, "I don’t know what they are fighting for because Americans are saying that some of the Latin Americans are sending drugs to the USA, but we shall learn more," before reiterating, "But whatever the case, you can see the gaps I am telling you about."The president called on Africans, particularly the youth, to prioritize collective strategic security to prevent similar vulnerabilities in the future.