It was a yellow affair at Bukedea district headquarters on Wednesday as President Museveni wrapped up his campaigns in Teso sub-region.
Arriving at the venue a few minutes after mid-day, Museveni was welcomed by a big delegation led by the vice President Jessica Alupo, Speaker Anita Among, her deputy, Thomas Tayebwa, NRM vice chairperson for Eastern Uganda, Calvin Echodu and NRM Secretary General, Richard Todwong among others.
Speaking to the population, Museveni applauded them for voting Speaker Anita Among and ensuring she goes through unopposed in the next parliament.
Peppering his speech with words in the local dialect, he said the first contribution of the NRM government to Bukedea and Uganda at large was peace.
“Yesterday, I was in Kumi and I was remembering when I used to camp at Nyero Rock to fight the rebels. And I'm glad I hear my people, when I told them they built a primary school where I had camped for the area. But when I would be there fighting the rebels, I would hear that the cattle rustlers are coming across Lake Bisina during the dry season and going to Ongino,” he said.
“On this side(Bukedea), there was a place called Koliri, that was always being attacked by the cattle rustlers. But due to the correct ideology of the NRM, working with the people, we have been able to stop all this trouble and this peace in the whole country now.”
Museveni said whereas there are guns and wars in South Sudan and DRC , whenever they try to cross into Uganda, they are dealt with ruthlessly.
“We deal with them promptly and they can't disturb us. That is how Uganda now is an island of peace, hosting 1.9 million refugees.”
Museveni said having ensured peace in the entire country, NRM focused on key infrastructure like roads, piped water, telephones and electricity among others.
“These are the main elements of the economic infrastructure. As I speak today, you people in Bukedea, in Kachumbara, in Kumi, in Teso, you have everything of those. You have the tarmac road, all the way from Tororo, to the border with South Sudan. We have tarmac road through here, all the way to Moroto. There is another tarmac road coming from Moroto, Nakapiripiri to Namalu, through Chepuskunya, up to Bugisu, but near you, just on the other side. Then we made a road for you, so that you don't have to pass through Mbale, from Tirinyi, Pallisa, Mukongoro, up to here.”
He added, “With Teso, there is another road we are making from Katine to Ochero, to Amalatar, to Namasali. With Teso, we are remaining only with three roads to work on. One road from Kumi, to Ngora, to Serere, to Kagwara, to Bugondo. That one is already, we have the money and they are about to start. There is another road which people in Kampala don't know, which I normally tell them. I normally say, I want to link Teso with Karamoja.This is the road from Soroti, Amuria, Obaranga, Achanpi, Otuhe, Adilang, Abim.”
He also mentioned shorter roads which are being worked on.
“Once we do this, all Teso will be linked with Karamoja, with Northern Uganda and with the rest of the country. “
Museveni also expressed delight at the fact that majority of the sub-counties headquarters are connected to the national electricity grid.
Education
He said that of the 152 parishes in Bukedea, 56 have at least one government primary school, noting that 96 parishes are lacking a primary school.
Bukedea has 98 government primary schools.
Museveni added that the district has 16 sub-counties, with six hosting at least one government secondary school with 10 still lacking.
The district according to Museveni is benefitting with the construction of two Seed Secondary Schools, noting that with the completion, only eight sub counties will remain without any government secondary school.
In terms of health, the president said out of the 16 sub-counties, two have health centre IVs, and nine have health centre IIIs, with only five without any health facility.
He said government is planning to upgrade Aminit health centre II in Aminit Sub-County to a health centre III and construct new health centre IIIs in Komuge, Aligoi, Kwarikwar and Koena Sub-Counties.
Wealth creation
Museveni however reminded the population of the need to get involved in wealth creation to ensure they get out of poverty.
“If you want to be successful teach your people about the four acre model. This should help you answer the question on where wealth comes from.Our politics of NRM has been politics of knowledge and truth. Not mere talk. We are saying jobs come from wealth. Government jobs are very few. They are there but very few. All government jobs put together are 400,000 but factory jobs alone are now 1.3 million,” he said.
He urged the population to make use of the Parish Development Model funds and Emyooga to get out of poverty.
Bukedea’s 152 parishes have received shs46.6 billion with shs44.6 already disbursed to 45,140 PDM beneficiaries out of the 55,960 households.
For Emyooga, the district has 36 saccos with 25,047 members and government has so far disbursed shs1.72 billion.
Speaking during the rally, Speaker Anita Among who also doubles as the second national vice chairperson for NRM, thanked Museveni for loving Bukedea, declaring that the district is the president’s second home.
“Ours is to celebrate the love you show people of Bukedea. We want to tell you we shall vote for you,” Among said.
During the function, Among donated three cows to President Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni and the Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.