Busia LCs challenged to protect wealth creation projects from thieves
Parish Development Model livestock enterprises, including poultry, goats, piggery and cattle, have come under attack from thieves, who sometimes slaughter the animals at the source and carry away the meat.
Barbara Nekesa Oundo receiving a gift from Janet Hope Anyango Webie and her husband (right). (Photo by Egessa Hajusu)
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Recently elected village chairpersons in Busia district have been urged to form village defence committees to help fight crime and protect residents' wealth and development projects.
NRM national treasurer Barbara Nekesa Oundo decried the rising cases of theft in villages, saying the vice was discouraging residents from engaging in wealth creation.
Parish Development Model livestock enterprises, including poultry, goats, piggery and cattle, have come under attack from thieves, who sometimes slaughter the animals at the source and carry away the meat.
She said the village defence committees would be supported by the government to provide security at night and ensure that residents' wealth creation projects are protected.
Nekesa, who was speaking on August 15, 2026, at a thanksgiving party organised by Busia District Woman MP Janet Hope Anyango Webie, said rampant theft in villages was killing residents' spirit to engage in wealth creation.
Cake time. Barbara Nekesa Oundo and Janet Anyango Webie cutting cake. (Photo by Egessa Hajusu)
She encouraged elected leaders not to rest until residents are motivated to generate income, saying she was ready to work with all elected leaders.
Nekesa has embarked on a parish poverty mobilisation campaign in which residents who are not engaged in income generation are brought together with those engaged in income-generating activities to learn from them.
Responding to concerns raised by retired Principal Judge James Ogoola about the proposed creation of Lumino district and congestion at Busia border customs, transport state minister Julius Maganda said the construction of the Lumino-Mulwanda Road was a done deal and that the issue of the proposed district was being handled by the relevant office.
"We are going to work for the people of Busia this time around because all the Members of Parliament are united," Maganda said.
She, however, appealed to residents to embrace government development programmes so they can generate money to tap into the electricity they are yearning for.
Concerning poor health service delivery in the district, particularly in maternal health, Anyango donated 90 mattresses and cautioned health workers against keeping them in stores while mothers sleep on the floor.
The director of communications at the NRM Secretariat, Emmanuel Lumala Dombo, appealed to MPs in Bukedi to serve residents with the sole purpose of fighting poverty.
He said people in the area were living in abject poverty, which he said could be reduced if MPs stopped fighting one another and instead mobilised residents to embrace government development programmes.
The district NRM chairperson for Busia, Isaac Muwanguzi, appealed to residents implementing government development programmes to exercise financial discipline so they can invest the money in other ventures instead of wasting it on whatever catches their eye, saying such practices would leave them poor.
Area MPs, including Richard Wanyama Hamala, Sowedi Mulemya, John Paul Wandera and Julius Maganda, attended the function, which was held at Bukwekwe Primary School in Lumino-Majanji town council.