First Lady rallies Karimojong women to vote NRM

The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Janet Museveni, has asked the women of Karamoja, and the country at large, to vote for the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party in the forthcoming general election and be assured of continued government development programmes in their areas.

She said, for the country to continue with its developmental programmes, there is need for the people to vote for leaders of NRM, whom, she said, are the only ones committed to service delivery and socio-economic transformation of the country.

Mrs Museveni made the remarks during a meeting with 150 members of the Karamoja Women Peace Forum, who invited her to Morulinga State Lodge in Napak district, on Friday 20 November.

The Karamoja Women Peace Forum was formed in 2011, with the aim of advocating peace and security in the region.

Mrs Museveni commended the women for joining the struggle to pacify and transform Karamoja.

She lauded them for the role they play in ensuring that their families have food and their incomes increase. She reminded the women about some of the projects she initiated while she was still the Minister for Karamoja Affairs, to facilitate increased food production at the household level and to boost family wealth.

These include the community empowerment programme, where oxen, ox-ploughs, walking tractors, heifers and goats were donated to female farmer groups, youth and the elderly.

About the request made by the Karamoja Women Peace Forum to the Government to construct access roads that will ease the transportation of their produce to markets, Mrs Museveni said it is the work of local governments.

She, however, added that President Yoweri Museveni had instructed the finance ministry to increase fuel funding for all local governments, so they can do a better job on repairing and constructing feeder roads. On the high rate of alcohol consumption in the region, which the women said had claimed many lives, the First Lady reminded the women that she had asked local governments to come up with bylaws to stop the sale of waragi.

The women group also requested the Government's quick intervention to address the outbreak of scabies, which they said has affected the whole region. Mrs Museveni promised to forward their requests to the line ministries, for quick solutions.

Hellen Pulkol, the chairperson of the Karamoja Women Peace Forum and the Deputy Resident District Commissioner of Moroto district, thanked the First Lady for her love for the women of Karamoja. She assured her of Karamoja's support for NRM, saying: "At the grass-root level here in Karamoja, NRM is strong and no other party can compete with us."