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 38TH NRM/A VICTORY DAY ANNIVERSARY 

On Friday, President Yoweri Museveni officiated at the 38th NRA/NRM Liberation Day anniversary national celebrations at St John SSS Wakitaka in Jinja city. This year's celebrations were themed around 'building a county we all cherish' and in his speech, Museveni chose to focus on "mass issues". A look at what he said:

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'Free inspectors of govt programmes'

On his way to Jinja accompanied by the First Lady and education minister Janet Museveni, President Museveni said they made a stopover at a place called Nyenga, attracting a large crowd, including children.

They engaged the gathered locals, who — upon inquiry — revealed that many of the children in the area do not go to school any more because they were sent away for lack of school fees.

"Those wananchi [citizens] are free inspectors of government programmes," said Museveni — aided by a translator — while talking about the earlier roadside encounter.

"In 1996, after the elections, the Government introduced Universal Primary Education (UPE). We said [to school heads], 'The money you have been asking for the children to pay, the central government will send it. Don't charge money any more'.

"And we have been sending that money to the districts. But the headteachers and the PTA [Parents Teachers Association] don't respect that. They take the money and also charge the children. And that's how the children are expelled from school.

"We told these people, 'Stop charging these children money, and if the capitation grant we are sending is not enough, tell us we send more money so that you stop sending the children out of school'.

"These children of the poor people, if their parents cannot manage, it is the state of Uganda which becomes their parent to look after them," said the President.

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"In the coming financial year, of 2024/2025 or the next, we are going to start a new campaign on this issue. But I want support from all of you so that we don't tolerate anybody who undermines that programme.

"This was free information from the wananchi whom we saw at Nyenga. Then Maama Janet asked them, 'But have you started using the PDM [Parish Development Model] money?' They said, 'We only hear about it but we have never seen it'.

"So Maama Janet said she is going to go back to that particular place with the MP of the area to find out what happened to that money for that parish. That was free intelligence from the wananchi," said Museveni.

"Then they told me that this road, the new road from the Nile Bridge to Mukono through Buikwe, that it was finished two years ago but already potholes have started forming. And indeed when I started driving, I started seeing the potholes on the new road. I had not attended to them [potholes], but when they told me, I saw some between Nyenga and the Nile Bridge.

"So I want General Katumba Wamala [works and transport minister] to go on that road to check what happened."

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Five points

Thereafter, President Museveni went on to emphasize five points, as follows:

▪️  Free education for our children. "In the government schools, we introduced free education, it must be implemented. Those people at Nyenga started telling me about nurseries, but I said I won't involve myself in those. I start with primary. This is the war I am fighting," says the Ugandan leader.

▪️ Wealth creation in the homes. "This is where PDM and Emyooga come in. I will come back to Busoga for a zonal tour. We shall talk more about that."

▪️  Health. "It seems there is some issue also with the [theft of] drugs in government health facilities. But that one we are going to check. We shall have to get a solution for the curative side of health care."

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▪️  Peace.  "That one we are working on, the army is involved. I am always directly involved. That one is moving on well. Inspite of the bad situation in South Sudan, in DR Congo, in Somalia and infiltrations which we get from there once in a while, Uganda is very peaceful."

▪️  Jobs for the young people. "In one of my previous speeches, I adviced that if you can, adopt the method of commercial agriculture on a small scale, like the model of Mr Nyakana in Fort Portal, who is employing 10 people.

"We have got like nine million families in Uganda. Let's say the ones in the villages are seven million and most of them have land. If each one employs ten people, we shall have 70 million jobs — more than the population of Uganda," said Museveni.

"We shall have to import workers from other countries. And it has happened before. When the British introduced coffee and cotton here, we didn't have enough workers.

WATCH: 'Potential 70 million jobs'


Roads and railway

"On the issue of roads, the one I am thinking about is the one from Jinja Bridge, Budondo, Mbulamuti to Kamuli. You can be sure it will be done. It's one of our priorities," said the President.

"Then there is a road from Kamuli to Bukungu. That one must be done. We have been talking  about it for a long time. Then the road from Iganga through Luuka to Kamuli.

"I know there are other roads, but if we could do those first. But I am a bit proud because we have done some of the roads. One of my main roads is the one from Musita through Mayuge to Namayingo to Busia. I am glad we did that road. Then the road from Iganga, through Busembatia to Mbale — that was a new road done by us.

"Then reconstructing this Kamuli-Jinja Road. I think we have done it twice, and then also the Iganga-Kaliro Road. Then the roads in Jinja town: some of them have been done.

"The murrum roads. There has been a problem of underfunding for the murrum roads. They were sending sh300 million per district, but we have added sh1 billion. So, that should be able to handle the murrum roads.

"And then the railway. We have repaired the old railway, but we are going to build a new one. We have been talking to the Chinese and other groups but we may also think of the UPDF to build it, because the UPDF are able to do anything we want to do," said the President, pointing out the works on Namboole Stadium and the Entebbe International Airport terminal by the UPDF."

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Corruption

"We can do whatever we want to do, but the big problem we have is corruption," said Museveni.

"Recently, there was an audit by the Auditor General which showed that there were many ghost workers being paid. CID [Criminal Investigations Department] will move in and deal with them.

"If the Auditor General has showed that [existence of ghost workers on the payroll], then the next stage should be CID, because the political [channels] would have been bypassed by that time."

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'Bogus groups'

Earlier, Minister for the Presidency Milly Babalanda said that some Ugandans, mostly young people, are used to "spread harmful propaganda aimed at undermining the contribution of the NRM".

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She went on to "present to the public a one Moses Ssimbwa, one of the key victims allegedly tortured by the security forces, who was misled by the enemies of Uganda's stability and ended up in Nairobi [Kenya's capital], where he was presented as a torture victim.

Babalanda then invited Ssimbwa, who was using crutches, to tell his testimony of "how he ended up in Nairobi to falsely accuse the NRM government which moreover is responsible for putting in place the rule of law. His testimony will add more meaning to this liberation anniversary.

Commenting later on Ssimbwa and his brother's testimonies, Museveni had this to say:

"What these young people were saying — Ssimbwa and his brother — about the opposition, this one we know, we in the security system. And at the right time, we are going to expose these bogus groups, what they call opposition.

"They go, talk with Europeans to see how to force Uganda to be a puppet of foreign interests. They do that in other countries, but they don't know how strong the NRM is. Like, they announced, 'We are not going to give new loans to Uganda'. We are moving forward.

WATCH: 'We are going to expose these bogus groups'


"Uganda will grow at an even faster pace than before because the strength we build, we built it ourselves. The only people who helped us: two African brothers, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere [of Tanzania] and Samora Macel [of Mozambique]. That's all. All the others, if you want to help, help. If you don't want to help, bye bye.

"Therefore, to those who miscalculate that Uganda is a typical neocolonial African country, Uganda under the NRM is a totally different cup of tea.We can defeat anybody who challenges us here in Uganda. Regardless of who backs him.

"What these young people are saying is true. At the right time we shall expose them."

'Listen to NRM's message'

"Finally, I want to thank the people of Busoga because they took part in our struggle," said Museveni as he wrapped up his speech.

"Therefore, I am very happy that we are celebrating now. What you need is to listen carefully to the message of the NRM.

"When I came here in 2018, I again told you what I think you should do. The ones with the small homesteads, like the ones with four acres or less. In 1995, I was here talking about the same thing.

"For the small pieces of land, we recommended growing of coffee (if it can grow there), fruits, small-scale dairy, food crops, piggery in backyards, chicken for eggs and fish farming."

The President advises against growing rice in swamps, saying it is wrong.

"You are misusing the swamps. There is an experiment which I did in Pallisa in a place called Limoto. I made fish ponds at the edge of the swamp and not in the centre. And my people there started earning seven times more from the fish than they were earning from the rice in the swamp.

"So, you can have fish farming, which is also friendly with the environment. Then the swamps will thrive and have more water, which we can then pump to the dry land for irrigation," said Museveni.

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