Museveni takes war on poverty to Luweero

May 25, 2004

A THICK dust sparked off by a long convoy lingered over the Nakaseke-Kapeeka road.

By Henry Mukasa
A THICK dust sparked off by a long convoy lingered over the Nakaseke-Kapeeka road. Whenever President Yoweri Museveni’s convoy would halt, the dust would gradually disappear. Residents were aware of the president’s visit. Those who were unable to go for rallies stood by the roadside, or infront of their houses to cheer the convoy. Residents were amazed by the long motorcade of posh and classy cars. They also wanted to have a glimpse of the man who traversed their countryside, crossed their courtyards and shambas during the bush war 18 years ago.
Wobulenzi, Nakaseke, Kapeeka and Semuto all in Luweero district where Museveni held rallies, and the fringes of Mpigi, Wakiso, Kiboga, Mubende and Mukono districts make-up the Luweero triangle, where the President fought the 1981-1986 liberation war. The resultant victory led to the birth of the Movement government. Museveni’s return here was not to wage a war or a wage a movement for democratic change, but to wage a movement for poverty eradication.
On the previous day at Wobulenzi, the president told residents that the area will be zoned for them to engage in economic activities where the area has an advantage. Museveni said each household would be able to earn sh20m annually. However, residents openly laughed off the figure. They could not envisage themselves earning more than a senior civil servant. The president sensed this and, like a prelate, urged the residents to have faith and not behave like doubting Thomases. “If you don’t believe that you can work and earn sh20m, how can you say you will go to heaven? The Cardinal and archbishop keep telling us of heaven and the Mufti, jana. if you have lost hope of getting sh20m, how can you go to heaven, which is far away?” Museveni said. He said fruits, coffee, honey, rice, cotton, cattle, silk worms and fish would be sold in the lucrative markets of the US, EU, Japan, while other markets are being sought in China and India, which are all quota and tax-free. Unconvinced Wobulenzi peasants must have left Museveni with a pinch. He called John Nyombi, a commercial farmer from Mityana and moved along with him on the second leg of his tour, to educate residents on the practical ways of fighting poverty through modern agriculture. After greeting residents some of whom he could still recall by name at Kapeeka, Museveni handed Nyombi the microphone. “Let me hand over to Mr Nyombi to teach you how to make money because I have not come here for propaganda,” Museveni said.
“We must do farming like any other job. You must learn to calculate the profit margin of whatever you plan to invest in. Don’t do farming as a hobby,” Nyombi, who grows oranges on large scale said.
He then illustrated how with a capital investment of sh1.2m on an acre of land where he planted 400 orange trees, a tin of ripe succulent oranges sell at sh5,000. In six harvests, one can earn sh12m. Residents marvelled, but Nyombi urged them to apply the mathematics to the mangoes, which are common in the area. “We should start a ‘movement’ for eradicating poverty’ from this area. We shall stipulate what one must do. No more talking, but action. I can’t be like priests who are always saying: “repent, the kingdom of God is about to come”. Preaching has ended. It is time for commanding... songa mbele,” Museveni said after Nyombi’s lecture.
The president might have talked only development issues, but the political posturing was overflowing. All speeches at the rallies were dominated by calls for a third term for Museveni.
From Wobulenzi, where Uganda Young Movementists’ (UYM ) speaker, Muwanga Lutaaya, said any government after Museveni will be of rapists, so Museveni must stay on; Kapeeka, where Christopher Kiwanuka, the LC III chairman said the president should rule for 30 years to Semuto, where Energy minister Syda Bumba said no agreement was made during the liberation war that Museveni would be bound by term limits, the symbols for the third term, as we have come to know them from the agitators including essanja (dry banana leaves) and the three fingers, were at play. At Wobulenzi, there Kayibanda (Godfrey Seguya) the comical CBS FM presenter, who coined the essanja representation using a kinyarwanda accent and erratic luganda, received applause from some residents. At the 10th coronation anniversary of the Kabaka of Buganda at Bbowa attended by Museveni, Kayibanda, with bundles of essanja, sought to grant Museveni more terms in office than the contentious third term.“I wanted to give you the 15 bisanja (15 bundles of dry banana leaves) and not a mere three that people are quarrelling about, but soldiers have refused me to bring them.” A deafening laughter followed. Ekisanja (dry banana leaf) has a similar intonation with ekisanja (term), a term which was used for polygamous Baganda tribesmen to apportion attention to their wives in different homes or bedrooms. Ever since Kayibanda ekisanja, there has been no let up. At Wobulenzi, inspite of a tight programme, he was given a chance to address people. He reminded Museveni of how he was the first to support the third term.
Kayibanda urged the president to cancel plans to travel out of the country on May 29, so that the president attends his wedding at Namboole stadium. When Kayibanda offered three mmambas (cat fish) from Kasenyi landing site to symbolically back up the government’s Mambas (motorised armoured personnel carrier) to help the president to fight Kony’s LRA rebels in the North, Museveni let off the heartiest laughter. He also laughed when Abdul Nadduli, the Luweero district chairman, referred to former deputy premier, Eriya Kategaya, now in Pafo, as “a moving Satan.” In some places, the president said he had also returned to Luweero to thank the people for voting him in 2001.
Museveni’s body language during the tour spoke volumes. He flashed the thumbs-up sign in response to residents cheers. The President made stop-overs at Kyamutakasa, Kangu, Bamusuuta and other trading centres.
An elderly woman, Safiina complained about the high empooza (tax levy)charged by micro finance institutions, while a certain boy cried out, “Mzee, you forgot us who were orphaned by the war.” At Kapeeka, he described the Movement as ssere (a weed with sticky seeds), which spreads fast, but which are difficult to eliminate from the garden. Museveni compared himself to a parent-rhinoceros that cannot be eaten by dogs because its off-springs would defend it. At Semuto, Museveni said whenever he sought people’s mandate, he was not seeking a job, but “offering help to you to overcome unfinished problems.” He added he didn’t return to the area in recent times because “I was busy fighting terrorists in the north, who want to return and slaughter you.”
Ends

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