Westerners are not favoured, says Kivejinja

Third Deputy Premier and minister for East African Affairs, Kirunda Kivejinja, has knocked back insinuations that people from western Uganda are progressing on account of favouritism and patronage from government.

According to the veteran politician, 'westerners' - as people from the region are known, are "hardworking and have things to sell unlike many Ugandans."

"It's not true that money was got from government coffers and given to westerners. These people sell their milk, cattle and Matooke. Those who have nothing to bring to the market cannot simply compete," Kivejinja said on Thursday while launching the global and Uganda human development report, 2015.

Kivejinja's statement caught the audience composed of diplomats, government technocrats, UNDP country representative, district leaders and cultural leaders from northern Uganda off-guard, spawning a ripple of murmurs.

Kivejinja, who represented Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, noted that  hauling Uganda from poverty will not take development partners but "Ugandans waking up from their slumber", saying "that is your generation challenge. We had ours."

Although nepotism and sectarianism is a form of corruption punishable under Uganda's legal regime, there is a feeling among a section of Ugandans that people from western Uganda are favoured on account of the President and a large number of government's top echelon hailing from the region.

However, President Yoweri Museveni has in different fora described those practicing nepotism and tribalism, saying his government liberated the country from past regimes where division along religious and ethnic lines was an official policy.