Museveni to leaders: 'Mobilization involves fighting poverty, ignorance'
Apr 03, 2024
"We can have good infrastructure but with poverty in place, and we can create wealth without good infrastructure,” said the President.
President Yoweri Museveni and the First Lady, Janet Museveni meeting exemplary farmers from nine villages of Gomba & Sembabule districts together with leaders at their Kisozi Farm. (PPU Photos
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President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has tasked leaders at all levels with preaching the gospel of household income generation in a bid to lift people out of poverty.
On Tuesday, he and the First Lady, Janet Museveni, hosted a group of exemplary farmers from nine villages in Gomba and Sembabule districts at his Kisozi farm.
Museveni said leaders play a critical role in fostering prosperity at the grassroots level.
According to a statement from the President's press team, he highlighted the success of the Greater Kisozi Model Villages project initiated in 2011.
“I don't know why our leaders emphasize the issue of roads, electricity, and other infrastructure more and forget the main aspect of household income. We can have good infrastructure but with poverty in place, and we can create wealth without good infrastructure,” said the President.
In 2011, Museveni donated cows, goats, coffee seedlings, pigs, and money, among other agricultural products, to households in nine villages in Gomba and Sembabule.
This move aimed to help them fight poverty and generate income to improve their livelihoods.
The beneficiary villages are Kirasi, Kisozi A, Kisozi B, Obutugu, Lutunku A, Lutunku B, Kajumilo, Kasozi, and Kikuumadungu.
Looking back at the time he initiated a campaign against poverty in the Ankole region decades ago, Museveni said his vision was to empower communities by encouraging them to embrace modern farming techniques and entrepreneurship.
For instance, he advised farmers in the cattle corridor to transition from nomadic practices to settled farming, emphasizing the benefits of dairy farming and land management.
“The Ankole people embraced my message of wealth creation,” he said, underscoring the success of his approach in transforming the region's economy.
'Fighting poverty and ignorance'
In the same spirit, Museveni also reminisced about the challenges faced by the communities in the 1990s, where poverty was rampant with scarce opportunities.
He said his determination to effect change led to the implementation of initiatives such as providing livestock and agricultural resources to households, including cows, coffee, and pigs.
“We are going to continue adding more resources in the [Greater Kisozi Model Villages] project,” he said during Tuesday's meeting, also urging the farmers to embrace the four-acre model type of farming.
“Leaders as we do mobilisation, we should know that it involves fighting poverty, fighting ignorance, and promoting health because all that concerns us.”
Sarah Nalwanga, the project coordinator, lauded the scheme's impact, citing significant increases in household assets and agricultural productivity.
“So far, 2,035 households have benefited from the project,” she said. 
She said the project is centered on pillars such as home improvement, food security, income-generating activities, value addition, and SACCO support and that it aims to empower communities to enhance their livelihoods sustainably.
Through strategic interventions such as the distribution of livestock, agricultural tools, and perennial crops, Nalwanga said that the project has witnessed tangible progress. 
The MPs from Gomba and Sembabule districts pledged to mobilize communities to embrace government programs such as the parish development model (PDM) and Emyooga, aimed at alleviating poverty.
The legislators included Robina Rwakoojo (Gomba West), Sylvia Nayebare (Gomba district Woman MP), and Mary Begumisa (Sembabule district Woman MP).
What the beneficiaries said
James Kalanda is a resident of Kirasi village in Gomba and once struggled to make ends meet. But things have since changed for the better.
“I was given mango seedlings which I planted. Now, I sell each mango at sh500, earning a remarkable sh300,000 per week."
With this newfound income, Kalanda has not only supported his child's education but also invested in three motorcycles to transport his produce to neighbouring markets.
Josephine Namusisi, also a resident of Kirasi village in Gomba, expressed her gratitude to the President for the project.
“What I am today is because of you, Mr President. I was so poor, I lived in an unpleasant grass-thatched house," she said.
With support from the initiative, Namusisi said she received essential tools such as hoes and pangas, enabling her to embark on a journey of self-sufficiency. 
Embracing cleanliness and innovative farming techniques, she now cultivates food and utilizes organic fertilisers, thus enhancing both her livelihood and health.
Another success story came from George Ssabagabo, also a resident of Kirasi village.
“I have 20 Friesian cows. With your guidance, I now sell three jerrycans of milk per day, earning sh42,000 from each jerrycan."
Through diversifying his agricultural ventures, including banana growing, Ssabagabo informed the President that he has been able to secure a stable income, allowing him to construct a new home and break free from the jaws of poverty.
Youth and Children State Minister Balaam Barugahara and the head of the Office of the National Chairman-NRM, Hajjat Hadijah Uzeiye Namyalo, attended Tuesday's meeting.
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