President Yoweri Museveni has commended State Minister for Primary Healthcare Hon. Joyce Moriku, who is also Moyo District Woman Member of Parliament, for her commitment to the implementation of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) Manifesto and teachings.
The President made the remarks yesterday at Celecelea grounds in Moyo Municipality while addressing the congregation at the Thanksgiving ceremony hosted by the Minister to celebrate her health and recovery. Gulu Archdiocesan Prelate, His Grace John Baptist Odama led the Thanksgiving Mass. Another function the President performed was commissioning Moyo School of Nursing and Midwifery that is owned by Minister Moriku.
“I have just commissioned a Midwifery School that the Minister opened with her own money. Moriku knows what the NRM wants. This is part of the NRM Manifesto of skilling the youth. Medical skills are needed everywhere in the world. You cannot fail to get a job in Uganda, East Africa or anywhere you go in the world,” he said.
The President disclosed that he would direct the Ministry of Health to buy the Midwifery School from the Minister so that Government owns it. He said the school was well situated near the border of South Sudan and will attract many South Sudanese to come and study in Moyo District.
President Museveni, however, warned MPs against using their own funds to run their constituencies, as it would leave them broke. “These young MPs try to get into trouble by running issues of the constituency with their own money. I tell them that they are in the constituencies to lead and not carry the constituencies as individuals which has left many in debts,” he said.
Mr. Museveni thanked God for saving Minister Moriku’s life. “It is good that you have come to show God that you are grateful for your life,” he noted.
Last year in November, Minister Moriku fell ill and was admitted at Mulago National Referral Hospital and discharged but her condition worsened and she was subsequently admitted to Platinum Hospital to no avail. She was later airlifted to Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya where she was put in intensive care unit until she recovered.
President Museveni urged the people of the area to seek home income generation in order to grapple with their domestic chores successfully. He explained that while it is the role of government to ensure that development takes place, it is everyone’s role to ensure that they create wealth in their homes.
“Government is building roads but you cannot sleep on the roads. If you leave poverty at home in the morning, in the evening it will be waiting for you when you get back,” he said.
He, therefore called upon people of Moyo in particular and Ugandans as a whole to plan for their farms under the four acre model where one care is used for cash crops such as coffee, another acre is to fruit production like mangoes and oranges while the third acre is used for dairy production or piggery and the last acre is used to grow food crops such as maize, beans. He added that farmers could also engage in backyard enterprises like apiculture and chicken rearing.
President Museveni said that government would also look into establishing a big area for fish farming in the region. “We shall not go into the river (Nile) but can pull water and do fish pond farming,” he said.
He pledged that his government would tarmac the roads from Atiak to Akoji via Moyo; Moyo-Yumbe-Koboko, Pakwach-Rhino Camp and Moyo to Arua through Terego.
“We have done the Kampala-Nimule road. Money has already been secured. The way we do things is one by one makes a bundle. We cannot do everything at once,” he said.
Minister Moriku thanked President Museveni, Parliamentary Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah and her fellow MPs for the overwhelming support during her sickness.
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