By HOMELAND MEDIA TEAM
The Members of parliament from the Busoga region have faulted their colleagues in Cabinet for failing to use their positions to eradicate poverty. The MPs observed that while they have three cabinet ministers and four state ministers in the current government, their participation in extending the national cake to the sub-region is invisible.
They stated that while their share of ministers is well placed in the Office of the Prime Minister, The Ministry of Lands, The Ministry of Trade, and The Ministry of Agriculture, which are all key dockets in the general economic transformation of the country, their region of origin hasn’t seen any tangible benefits from their placement.
Bugabula South MP Maurice Kibalya says the region’s inhabitants are largely smallholder farmers and hand-to-mouth business operators, with much need for direct government aid to scale up. However, the ministers who were directed by the President to steer these efforts are only using the ministerial positions for prestige and selfish gain.
Kibalya adds that such tendencies from key power blockers disadvantage the sub-region.
They were speaking during the Busoga leaders retreat held at the Source of the Nile Hotel in Jinja on Thursday. The one-day retreat was also attended by the District Chairman, the District Internal Security Officers, members of the National Resistance Movement-NRM League, members of the academia, investment resource persons, Resident District Commissioners-RDCs, Resident City Commissioners and their deputies to share insights on the unexplainable causes of poverty in Busoga.
Namutumba Woman MP Mariam Naigaga says that the ministers from the sub-region are shying away from resolutions made by MPs for the sub-region’s economic destiny, yet poverty alleviation efforts should be collective efforts by leaders at all levels.
Citing the ongoing parliamentary probe on the misappropriation of cooperative funds, Naigaga says that 16 Billion Shillings meant to boost primary societies in Busoga was mismanaged under the watch of a supervising minister from Busoga, which deprived thousands of people who would have used the same to revamp their agro-enterprises.
Bukholi county North MP Baka Mugabi accused the ministers of having a beggarly mindset just like their voters adding that rather than asking for bolder joint projects for transforming the region, most of them focus on appeasing individual lusts.
Mugabi wants the ministers to use their political platforms as mindset change forums for their subjects, most of whom are languishing in poverty due to a lack of clear threads of operability to undertake.
Busoga caucus parliamentary chairperson Iddi Isabirye said that all the ministers are non-committal towards jointly raising the sub-region’s plight through the lenses of solution-givers. Isabirye explains that although they have agreed on various action plans, each of the ministers harbors a different implementation plan, leading to the eventual death of well-drafted poverty eradication drives.
Meanwhile, former Lands Minister Daudi Migereko, who delivered the message from the Minister in Charge of the Presidency Milly Babalanda argued that Busoga’s development is a collective responsibility and all the MPs’ concerns will be conclusively expedited to derive long-lasting solutions to benefit the sub-region at all levels.
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