By Raymond Baguma
and Caleb Bahikaho

PEOPLE who think that the Ugandan economy has not developed under the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government should go for mental check-up, President Yoweri Museveni has said.

Museveni, who was on Saturday evening addressing a public rally at Rukungiri district stadium, said: “I have heard people telling lies that some parts of Uganda are neglected. They need to go to hospital for mental check-up. Even a blind person can see the development in this country.”

He hastened to add: “Of course there are still some areas that need to be improved, but on the whole, there have been a lot of achievements.”

Citing the proliferation of mobile phones, Museveni said villagers in the remote Nyakinengo could receive phone calls from as far as New York in America.

“You are talking endlessly on your mobile phones. Even people in potato gardens, banana plantations and those herding goats have mobile phones. It’s a sign of development,” Museveni commented.

Statistics show that the country’s GDP, the measure of production in the economy, has been growing for the last five years. In 2003/04 it grew by 6.8%; in 2004/05 by 6.3%; in 2005/06 by 10.8%; in 2006/07 by 7.9% while in 2007/08 it grew by 9.8%.

Museveni said at the time the NRM came to power in 1986, the country needed a thorough cleansing to get rid of extra-judicial killings by the military. He said as a result of political stability, the Government was able to implement programmes such as immunisation of children, free primary and secondary education, as well as the recently introduced campaign to eradicate poverty, code-named “Prosperity for All”.

Museveni said as a result of improved health, the country’s population has grown from 13 million in 1986, to 30 million people today. He said it was NRM which liberated the country, after other political parties such as DP and UPC had failed. Forum for Democratic Change, he added, is full of liars.

He advised family heads to avoid fragmenting land among their children, since the small pieces of land were unviable for extensive agriculture; but added that there could be an exception for polygamous family heads to divide their land among their various children.

He said if he were to die, his family was covered, since he had already apportioned 40% of his belongings to the children and 60% of the belongings would not be divided out, but the children would only share the incomes generated.

He advised families with fragmented pieces of land to engage in enterprises such as growing coffee, bananas, fruits and rearing of animals and poultry.