Over 360 heroes receive medals

MITYANA - The 25th Heroes Day anniversary celebrations were held in Mityana district on Monday.

At the event, President Yoweri Museveni revealed a plan to deploy military officers in every constituency to help boost household incomes through the commercialization of agriculture.

“Using soldiers in the income generation campaign is going to be spread nationally to ensure that poverty alleviation is handled more strictly in all constituencies, including those that have arguments among tribes,” he said.

The president estimates that there are seven million households in Uganda, which the soldiers would be targeting.

Meanwhile, during the celebrations, Luwero war veterans endorsed Museveni as the sole NRM candidate in the 2016 elections.

This decision was revealed by Haji Edirisa Ssedunga, the national chairman of the Luwero Triangle Veterans Association.

Ssedunga went on to advise the NRM leaders with presidential ambitions to put their aspirations on hold, arguing that most Ugandans still want Museveni to continue as their leader.

While addressing a crowd of hundreds of people, Museveni said children of the veterans would be given a quota in the UPDF as a way of creating jobs for them.

But he explained that the four key sectors of the economy – agriculture, industry, ICT and services – are being worked on to create jobs for the youth.

(PHOTOS by Luke Kagiri)

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President Museveni chats wth Mityana district LC 5 chairperson Deborah Kinobe

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Members of the UPDF were in full attendance

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Fr Ssebulime, the parish priest of Bukalamuli welcomes president Museveni

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Huge crowds attended the celebrations in Mityana district

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Police officers at the front smartly dressed in dark uniform

Museveni also directed energy minister Irene Muloni to ensure that each trading centre with more than 10 to 20 commercial buildings is connected to the power grid to encourage cottage industries.

Describing Kikandwa as a critical former war zone, Museveni said NRM had managed to transit the country through four stages — revival, repairing, development and stability.

Gen. Elly Tumwine, the chairman of the national awards committee, said his committee would prepare a book where all the names of Ugandans who have received medals would be compiled.

Drama ensued as people who were awarded medals used the handshake opportunity with the President to narrate their problems and also smuggle letters containing their needs to the President.

The events were marked with a three-gun salute as well as the laying of wreaths on a monument in Kikandwa town, in remembrance of the fighters who died during the bush war.

Present at the function were traditional leaders, cabinet ministers, MPs, the military top brass and diplomats.

(Reporting by Moses Mulondo Raymond Baguma & David Lumu)