Gen. Salim Saleh, a senior adviser to President Yoweri Museveni, has urged Uganda’s National Water and Sewerage Corporation to explore ways of using its institutional reach to support agricultural value addition and community development alongside its core utility mandate.
Saleh, who coordinates the government’s Operation Wealth Creation programme, made the remarks during a meeting on Thursday with NWSC Managing Director Silver Mugisha and the corporation’s Senior Manager for Environment and Social Safeguards, Paul Turyamureeba Kahigi.
He said public institutions could use their expertise, resources and partnerships to support initiatives that raise household incomes and create opportunities for small business without undermining their primary responsibilities.
Saleh pointed to Ugandan coffee brands including Elgonia Coffee House, Heritage Coffee and Abbarci Coffee, marketed under the slogan “Sip the Pearl of Africa”, as examples of how processing agricultural products could generate greater value, expand markets and improve farmers’ earnings.
He also praised Kahigi’s community engagement initiatives, saying they demonstrated how individual initiative could complement institutional responsibility.
Saleh and Mugisha agreed to explore how value-addition and agricultural production projects could fit within NWSC’s public-service framework, particularly initiatives aimed at improving rural livelihoods and supporting small enterprises.
Operation Wealth Creation was launched more than a decade ago to promote commercial agriculture and raise rural household incomes. Saleh, a retired general and Museveni’s brother, has coordinated the programme since its inception.
NWSC is Uganda’s state-owned water utility, providing water and sewerage services in towns and urban centres across the country.
The meeting followed discussions between Saleh and Mugisha in Kapeeka, Nakaseke District, on Aug. 5, where they reviewed waste-management initiatives under the Organic Dark Matter programme involving NWSC, Kampala Capital City Authority and Operation Wealth Creation.
Saleh also presented Mugisha with a copy of his book on land organisation and its role in Uganda’s economic transformation.
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