Museveni rallies Rakai to fight poverty

Nov 04, 2009

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged Kyotera town residents not to give up the fight against poverty. Museveni wondered why people respond with resignation whenever he tells them they can earn sh20m annually.

By Henry Mukasa
and Ali Mambule

PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni has urged Kyotera town residents not to give up the fight against poverty.

Addressing a rally at Katengo Primary School playground in Rakai on Tuesday evening, Museveni wondered why people respond with resignation whenever he tells them they can earn sh20m annually.

“When I first said this in Wobulenzi (Luweero district), people laughed and said I was bragging. They said: ‘How can we, the wretched of the earth, earn sh20m?’”

The President recalled how a resident of Wobulenzi raised his palm and showed him how unequal the fingers were to demonstrate the world’s destiny for some.

But he said he differed. “The Movement preaches equality. UPE is one such programmes to bring equity.”

Museveni, who is on a tour of the southern region to promote the ‘Prosperity-for-All programme, encouraged people to engage in commercial agriculture, such as banana plantations, orchards, diary, poultry, goat farming and piggery.

He said the six households per parish that will be supported through NAADS are meant to be role models. Museveni said his Government attracts investors because the industries they establish create merchandise, jobs and taxes.

“Some people sneer at investors. They think industries are bad. That’s how you should distinguish leaders from jokers.”
The President said taxes the investors pay can help the poor with programmes like UPE.
“If you get education and engage in income-generating activities, you will never be poor again,” he noted.

The local leaders asked him to extend electricity from Mutukula to the surrounding villages, connect piped water, build the road to Nazigo landing site, set up irrigation schemes and build a sugar factory.
Museveni said the Government would look into their demands. He also promised to donate 500,000 coffee seedlings as requested by Kyotera MP Pius Mujuzi.
On the recent riots, the President said the Government had embarked on a programme to give the Police purpose-built vehicles to enable them move faster and combat rioters without fear of being stoned.

He said the suspects behind the September riots were handled firmly to send a message that mocking the Movement will not be allowed.

“We keep quiet because busy people don’t make noise. But to confuse silence with weakness is a very big miscalculation,” Museveni warned.

On complaints of high power tariffs, the President blamed those who voted for the MPs who blocked the construction of Bujagali dam. He named the MPs as Salaamu Musumba, John Kazoora and Augustine Ruzindana.

“This suffering of power, God is testing you for voting wrongly. My wife got angry and contested against Ruzindana and defeated him.”

Museveni urged residents never to gamble with their vote, warning that bad politics could lead to bloodshed.

He also warned residents to desist from politics of bribery, calling it equal to mortgaging their rights as citizens.

Woman MP Maria Mutagamba said Rakai, one of the districts ravaged by AIDS, has many orphans yet NGOs have migrated to Northern Uganda. She called for technical schools to help orphans acquire skills.

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