War-ravaged districts to get sh500b

May 23, 2010

THE Government on Saturday launched a sh540b development plan for the Luwero and Rwenzori regions to assist the war-affected people engage in economic activities.

By Cyprian Musoke
and Hope Mafaranga


THE Government on Saturday launched a sh540b development plan for the Luwero and Rwenzori regions to assist the war-affected people engage in economic activities.

In a speech read by the internal affairs minister, Kirunda Kivejinja, at Rubona in Kabarole district on Saturday, President Yoweri Museveni said the Government had made many attempts to revamp these areas but most were still poor and had failed to embrace commercial agriculture despite government programmes like the National Agriculture and Advisory Services.

The districts that were in the war zone lost human life, livestock and infrastructure and suffrered a slump in education, agriculture and other economic activities.

“Originally, the area comprised the districts of Luwero, Mpigi, Mubende and Kiboga, which lost their entire socio-economic infrastructure.

“The area was gradually expanded to include other districts where a lot of activities took place during the course of the NRM struggle and the ADF insurgency,” Kivejinja explained.

He listed the districts to benefit from the programme as Luwero, Nakaseke, Kiboga, Mubende, Nakasongola, Rakai, Ssembabule, Mpigi, Wakiso, Mukono, Kayunga, Bundibugyo, Hoima, Ibanda, Isingiro, Kabarole and Kalangala.

Others are Kampala, Kamwenge, Kasese, Kibaale, Kiruhura, Kyenjojo, Lyantonde, Masaka, Masindi, Mbarara, Mityana, Buliisa, Kyegegwa, Buikwe, Gomba, Buvuma, Kiryandongo, Ntoroko, Kyankwanzi, Gombe, Lwengo, Bukomansimbi and Kalungu.

“These districts suffered various effects of war, including loss of property and lives, psychosocial shock and ailments, disruption of families, educational opportunities, neglect, displacement of settlements, disruption of economic activity like agriculture. The effects of the war vary from district to district,” he added.

After ending the war in northern Uganda, Museveni explained, he directed the Office of the Prime Minister in 2007 to draft a programme akin to the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund for the Luwero-Rwenzori region.

“The overall goal is to redress the adverse effects of the 1981-86 liberation war and the ADF insurgency of 1996/2003, with the aim of improving the socio economic well-being of the population in the area. We want to reduce the number of people living under the poverty line by the end of 2015,” he stressed.

Museveni’s plan, he added, is to have at least 20% of households in the region earning not less than sh20m by 2015, 100% of district roads done and maintained, increase water and electricity coverage.

Other targets, Kivejinja said, are to have more government-aided schools in every parish and sub-county, improve access to basic health services by upgrading health centres and ensure food security.

The programme will improve housing, commercialise agriculture, add value to farm produce and improve service delivery.

The programme will be community-led and be based on the ability of each beneficiary group to perform.

“We hope that this programme will sharpen the focus of future interventions and compliment other government efforts to support a comprehensive poverty reduction process tethered to the unfulfilled needs of the region, while consolidating the gains achieved by past interventions,” Kivejinja reported.

State minister for Luwero Triangle Nyombi Thembo said having used sh10b in the preparatory activities, sh54.1b will be used to cover the rest of the districts.

“We have been able to reach out to 15 districts, 60 sub-counties and 240 parishes. The lessons we have learnt have been so valuable in the refining of the plan,” he said.

The plan, he added, had helped 100 organised groups to enhance their household incomes by constructing watering points for animals and building houses for civilian veterans.

The money will be given out as grants of which only 50% is repayable at 13% interest.

Also to be rehabilitated, Nyombi added, are schools, churches, mosques and community centres that were destroyed during the liberation struggle.

The next financial year, he added, sh55b will be spent on the project. “We shall use each penny to produce indelible socio-economic impact in the Luwero/Rwenzori region,” he explained.

Rubona LC1 chairman, David Rusweka, said the NRM had championed many programmes that past governments did not.

Kabarole LC5 chief Michael Mugisha thanked the President for his contribution to Mountains of the Moon University and appealed for better equipment for the referral hospital, a three-phase powerline and market for their tea.

While thanking the Government for buying land for tenants who were being evicted, Mugisha asked for a faster process of transferring ownership into their names.

Local government minister Adolf Mwesige thanked the President for the two tractors he gave to the area, saying they had grown a lot of fruits, but lack market and a processing machine.



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