President Yoweri Museveni, who is also the NRM presidential flag bearer, has appealed to voters in Kasese and greater Rwenzori region against making mistakes by voting for MPs whose only work is to fight him and the ruling party.
“This is why you Kasese people have been making mistakes by sending people who fight NRM and its development. Mr.Nzhoghu(William) and Winnie Kiiza are only going( to parliament) to fight NRM. … But NRM is distributing food. Why fight someone distributing food when he has cooked and is distributing the food, “Museveni said on Tuesday.
The NRM presidential candidate was addressing NRM party leaders from Kasese district at Nyakasanga playgrounds in Kasese municipality as he kicked off his campaigns in Rwenzori and Tooro sub-regions.
Museveni told the party leaders that it is wrong for Kasese to send to parliament opposition MPs whom he accused of being bent on fighting him and the ruling party.
“I ask you to send MPs who can work and support me so that this success of building the economy continues and distribute properly,” he said.
The President told the leaders that when he came to Kasese in 2016 , the locals were worried about the area becoming insecure but assured them that peace is one of the key principles of the ruling NRM party.
“In 2016, people were worried there will not be peace here but I insisted it would be here. Here we are now and there is peace. You the people of Kasese should be witnesses to the rest of Ugandans. You know what happened here(insecurity) and in countries like Congo. For almost 60 years since independence, Congo is not settled, “Museveni said.
The NRM presidential candidate told the peace enjoyed by the country is because of the wise decisions made after capturing power in 1986.
“Between 1976 and 78, I trained only 28 boys in Mozambique and it is that group that built the UPDF you see here. The small group we sent to Mozambique was a fertilized eggs that produced these chickens you see here known as UPDF. It is because of this that we were able to bring about peace in Uganda.’
On Wealth creation
The President told the party leaders that after government working on other issues like roads, health facilities and electricity among others, the remaining problem is poverty caused by people involved in subsistence production.
“Your spokesperson told us that of the 150 homes in his area; only 20 are working for both the stomach and pockets. If the remaining 130 are working for only their stomachs, where do they get the money from? If the land you have is small, look for enterprises that can be done on a small piece of land but bring out high yields. I will come back here for a conference on what enterprise to be done on a small piece of land,” he said.
Museveni however asked the party leaders to send MPs who will work with him to ensure they budget properly but increasing money in government programs like women fund, youth livelihood program and Emyooga , aimed at ensuring creation of wealth.
Speaking on behalf of other leaders, Fred Busingye who represented the Kasese district LC5 chairman applauded government for the numerous projects aimed at developing the area.
He mentioned the new Kasese central market and the electric fence around Queen Elizabeth National Park among the projects implemented in the past few years.
“We need machinery including a grader and excavator to clear the river Nyamwamba path and rehabilitation of the over 100 families displaced by floods. We also ask for the rehabilitation of the Kilembe copper mines and the Kasese-Kampala railway line,” Busingye told Museveni.
“As a district we had made our own mistakes in 2016 but we are ready to rectify them and we are hopeful the NRM will triumph in the forthcoming election.”
Museveni was gifted with 10 heifers by the district leaders.
Kasese
With a total land area of2, 724 square kilometers, Kasese is one of the few remaining districts of the 32 that initially made up of Uganda and has never been split into other districts.
The district is an opposition stronghold and in the previous elections, all their six Members of Parliament came from the Forum for Democratic Change.
In the 2016 presidential polls, FDC strongman, Dr.Kizza Besigye who got 132762(56.39%) beat President Museveni who got 97367(41.36%) in the district.
Since 2016, government has injected shs2.9 billion in the youth livelihood project benefiting 4527 youths in the district, whereas over 3000 women have benefitted from the shs1.2 billion disbursed as women funds.
The area has 791 primary schools, 542 of whom are government whereas the government secondary schools are 24 out of the 130 in the district.
