Every household must have wealth creation activity—Museveni

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President Yoweri Museveni says Ugandan households should engage in wealth creation activities to get out of poverty.

The President says getting an economic activity is easy, considering that the Government rolled out the Parish Development Model (PDM).

According to him, PDM welcomes all individuals across all sectors of wealth creation, especially commercial agriculture, where every Ugandan should participate and transition from subsistence to a money economy.

The President made the remarks on Monday, June 16, 2025, while addressing a meeting about PDM at Lusenke village, Kome Ward, Kanoni Town Council, Gomba East constituency in Gomba district. He was visiting Namutebi Deborah and her husband, Godfrey Lubega, who are PDM beneficiaries involved in poultry and animal husbandry.

“I want to congratulate Namutebi and her dear husband for waking up and using the PDM money well to get out of poverty. Every household should engage in a wealth creation activity. Once you have wealth in your home, others will be added unto you,” President Museveni said, while urging the people to differentiate between development, such as roads, electricity, schools, and health centres and wealth/poverty. He said development is for all people, while wealth/poverty is personal.

President Museveni, who officially kicked off his Greater Mpigi tour to assess the progress of the Parish Development Model in the area, gave an example of the road from Mbarara and Masaka to Kampala, which has been tarmacked since 1963 and has undergone two reconstructions, yet poor people still reside beside it.

“Development has been there for 60 years, but people are still poor,” the President said.

“By the time I came to Kisozi in 1990, there was nothing here, no road or electricity, but I passed here and went to Kisozi because I had seen wealth there. By the time the development, a tarmac road and electricity came, I was already a rich man,” he added.

It's against this background that in 1995, he moved around the country sensitising the population about wealth creation and also initiated support programmes such as Entandikwa at the sub-county level, plan for modernisation of agriculture (PMA), the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) initiative, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), all in the spirit of waking up Ugandans to get out of poverty.

In February 2022, the Parish Development Model was launched specifically to transform subsistence households into the money economy. Every financial year, the government injects shillings 100 million into each parish in Uganda, which is borrowed by households through the parish SACCOS.

President Museveni likened Namutebi to a good seed in the Bible that fell on fertile ground to yield fruit.

“I want to thank Namutebi for becoming a good seed that fell on fertile soil and bore fruit. That's Namutebi and her family. I want to thank her because she has become an example for others who will be learning from her,” President Museveni said.

He also promised to help purchase three acres of land for Namutebi to expand her wealth creation enterprise. He also boosted her with shillings 15 million, of which 12 million is for a tuk-tuk- a motorised three-wheeled vehicle to aid in transportation, and shillings 3.5 million to extend electricity to her house. He also gave shillings one million to each of the 10 PDM beneficiaries who attended the meeting.

Sh50m pledge to football club

On the other hand, President Museveni pledged to contribute shillings 50 million to Gomba Football Club ahead of their preparations for the Masaza Cup competition, an annual football tournament comprising all Buganda counties.

Namutebi thanked President Museveni for considering and extending shillings one million to the poor people to get out of poverty.

Namutebi, a member of Koome Kanoni PDM SACCO, in the poultry enterprises group A, now boasts of 300 broiler chicken and 15 goats. She informed President Museveni that by the time she got the shillings one million PDM cash, she had already deposited shillings 500,000 in Finance Trust Bank to enable her to acquire a loan and had constructed a poultry house with the ambition of setting up a poultry farm.

“When I received the shillings one million, I abandoned the idea of acquiring the loan. On poultry, I added goats. I started with four; I now have 15 goats. Those who think shillings one million is little do not know how to use it,” Namutebi told President Museveni, adding that she’s now able to educate her children and sustain the family.

Namutebi’s dream is to expand her poultry enterprise to 2,000 chickens and also acquire a milling machine to produce poultry feed, which will benefit other members.

NRM deputy secretary general Rose Namayanja Nsereko thanked President Museveni for adding shillings one trillion to the national budget to extend the PDM programme to more Ugandans.

Greater Mpigi, comprising the districts of Mpigi, Gomba and Butambala, has a total population of 672,326 people according to the 2024 UBOS figures, distributed in five constituencies, 25 sub-counties, divisions, and town councils, 154 parishes, and 964 villages.

⁠To date, a total of shillings 33.429 billion has been allocated to the 130 PDM SACCOs across all three districts, with Mpigi receiving the highest amount (Shs 14.400 billion), followed by Gomba (shillings 12,600 billion) and Butambala which has received a capitalization amount of Shs 6.428 billion because they have the lowest number of parishes in the region.

At the same event, President Museveni received Moses Katamba and Joseph Ssempijja into the NRM party. They are LC1 chairpersons of Lusenke village and Bukalagi village, respectively and defected from the National Unity Platform (NUP).

Earlier, President Museveni visited Rashida Namubiru, a PDM beneficiary in Kasaka village, Gombe Town Council, Butambala district and Hajji Mohammad Zziwa, an established farmer located in Selinya B Village, Musa Parish, Kamengo sub-county, Mawokota North constituency in Mpigi district. Hajji Zziwa has a poultry enterprise of 2,000 layers, coffee, bananas, and four cows, all on 5 acres of land, and employs eight people.

The event was also attended by, among others, Members of Parliament and local leaders.