Museveni asks voters to punish sleepy MPs

President Yoweri Museveni has asked Ugandans to punish sleepy and dormant politicians who are not playing their roles in nation building.

President Yoweri Museveni tours the Presidential Initiative on Skilling the Girl Child near Crested Towers in Kampala. Photo by Kennedy Oryema

Museveni explained that whereas a number of political offices were created in the 1995 Constitution to act as a voice for the underprivileged, most of the office bearers are dormant.

"If all those politicians were doing their job, I would be concentrating on a few other challenges like insecurity caused by the corrupt Police officers," he said.

Museveni said the corrupt and sleepy Police have allowed lawlessness to flourish in some parts of the country where thugs break into people's houses and sometimes rape women. 

He made the remarks on Friday while launching a presidential initiative dubbed ‘Skilling the Girl Child'. The initiate funded by State House started in February.

The President asked voters to deal with such politicians and leave him to deal with the corrupt Police. He noted that voters commit suicide whenever they elect sleepy politician.

"One of Africa's problems today are politicians that spend more time sleeping when there is plenty of work to do," Museveni said.

He said too much sleeping has donated the continent's vital jobs and wealth creation opportunities to developed countries.

Museveni said due to the slumber, Uganda sells its raw materials including, coffee and cotton to foreigners, donating four of the six jobs on each of the items.

"This stupidity of donating jobs to the wise foreigners should stop. I want all final products whose raw materials originate here to be produced in Uganda," he said.

Using cotton as an example, Museveni explained that a Ugandan farmer sells a kilogram at $1 to a foreign buyer who sells it the way it is to manufactures in China at $15, making a profit of $10 minus transport costs.

Under the Skilling the Girl Child initiative, 711 underprivileged youth from the five divisions of Kampala are equipped with skills such as knitting, shoe making and bakery.   

The President promised to help the trainees with capital and equipment.

He said that after successfully fighting the liberation wars that ushered peace into Uganda, he is now out to fight unemployment and bring about wealth creation.

Latest statistics show that about 60% of Uganda you leave without jobs.  The trainees like Christine Namasazi, 32 and Dorothy Nakiyimba 27, thanked the President for thinking about the girl child.