President Museveni who is also the NRM presidential candidate has told the residents of Kampala that unless they listen to his advice and get involved in wealth creation, they will never get out of poverty.
He said whereas development is a government responsibility, it will not chase way poverty.
“However good a road is, you must go back to your house where you sleep. When you go back, you find all the poverty you left in the morning still waiting for you. That’s why we say, don’t forget what is mine is better what is for us. Development is for all of us but poverty or wealth is yours as an individual,” he said.
The President was on Wednesday addressing a campaign rally at Buziga Islamic Primary School Grounds in Makindye Division.
He said since the NRM came to power, Kampala and Uganda at large have seen several development but said this has not necessarily translated into wealth for Ugandans.
“If you look at Kampala and other parts of Uganda, they are quite well developed. If you pass here, the Expressway, the Northern Bypass, the streets inside here have many new roads but long ago NRM pointed out that people don’t sleep at tarmac road at night even though roads are good,” he said.
He told the gathering since 1996, NRM has been emphasising wealth creation for Ugandans.
He said people in peri-urban areas can do commercial agriculture on small pieces of land.
“ If you have got small pieces of land, we have enterprises whether in the village or in the peri-urban. One acre of coffee, fruits, pasture for cows, food crops, piggery in the backyard and diary cattle and poultry for eggs and near the wetlands you can do fish farming,” he said.
Museveni gave an example of James Basangwa from Kamuli who started rearing poultry for eggs starting with a 50 by 100 feet plot that he said has not only given him wealth but also created jobs for over 300 other people.
“He(Basangwa) listened to my advice in Kamuli. He took up the enterprise of poultry for eggs and now sells 2500 trays of eggs per day earning him shs20 million per day, shs600 million a month. The one who had no wealth with a 50 x 100 plot is now earning a lot and employing over 300 people.”
According to Museveni, another source of wealth is artisanship and factories which he said also create jobs.
“Nobody should waste your time telling you anything else because there is no other way. Those who have listened to our advice have done very well,” he said.
He said government has for many years been supporting Ugandans to create wealth, mentioning Entandikwa, NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation, Emyooga, Youth Fund, Women Fund among those programs meant for this purpose.
“However, I kept hearing that the money was not reaching the beneficiaries. That’s why we started Parish Development Model to ensure money is sent to beneficiaries directly. That’s why we said the nearest point to the people is the parish.”
“We are going to increase the PDM money but we want to remove all the loopholes in the arrangement like in the shs100 million to the parish, 30% is for youth and 30% for women.”
He said the PDM saccos will become permanent banks for the various parishes.
“In five years even if we go by shs100million per year, it is already shs800 million and if we increased the amount, this will be a lot of money. We are going to straighten out all those loopholes.”
