President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni is to consider pardoning youths in the Karamoja sub-region that were detained for cattle rustling and illegal gun possession.
“I’m going to study the issue of pardoning these young people. I will discuss it with the army. I did not know that so many young people were involved,” President Museveni said.
He made the remarks on Thursday, December 5, 2024, while addressing the people of Karamoja at a rally held at Kotido grounds in Kotido municipality while concluding his performance assessment tour on the Parish Development Model (PDM) and wealth creation.
The matter was raised by Kotido Municipality Member of Parliament, Hon. Peter Abrahams Lokii, who said recently, mothers have been flooding his home, asking the government to pardon their children. President Museveni has recently, in accordance with Article 121 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, granted pardon to convicted minor offenders.
For the last three days, the President has visited several farmers in Karamoja who benefited from the government’s PDM program and also addressed a leaders meeting in Moroto.
President Museveni observed that the population of Karamoja has grown tremendously, which calls for concrete government interventions to improve their way of living.
“These days when I come here, I thank God for the work he has enabled NRM to do in Karamoja. In 1996, when I was campaigning in other parts of the country, I would get huge crowds coming to attend my rallies. In Karamoja, they were supporting the NRM 100%, but the people were few. Now these days it is as if I’m in Western Uganda, Buganda, or any other heavily populated area,” the President said while attributing it to the correct interventions by the government, such as immunization and peace.
“Of course, in the past, you were marrying many women, but the children were dying from diseases and from war. So all these huge numbers of people are because of peace and immunization. I therefore want to thank God for enabling the NRM to do something good in Karamoja,” he added.
He further added that the population of Uganda has since risen to 46 million people from 14 million in 1966.
“In all these years, we emphasize two words, wealth and jobs, and we try to wake our people up to show them where wealth and jobs come from,” the President said, adding that wealth and jobs cannot be achieved without peace, which is followed by health through immunization and good nutrition.
The next issue to address, he said, is water for domestic use and production.
“I know this very well because where I live in Rwakitura and some cattle corridor areas, we don’t have spring water. But the problem was solved by the valley dams and tanks. I’m very sorry to hear that some of the dams sank and don’t have water. The good thing, however, is that some boreholes can serve people but also livestock. But for the large number of cows and irrigation of crops, we need big valley dams. We are going to increase the valley dams in a serious way,” the President assured.
Turning to the Parish Development Model, President Museveni urged the people of Karamoja to embrace the program aimed at getting them out of poverty. Using examples of the people who have already started and are now successful, President Museveni said the Shs100 million sent to the parish every financial year is well designed to boost those in small-scale production to improve their incomes, especially those in the seven activities under commercial agriculture.
“If you get Shs1 million, you can buy some goats and cows. In Kapelebyong I saw many people who had bought young heifers at Shs800,000. This program will be maintained. Each year we send Shs100 million per parish, and I have told the banks to stop deducting bank charges; you must get the Shs1 million in full. So you people, you have no excuse for making friends with poverty,” the President explained.
Wealth Creation & Development:
President Museveni asked the people to separate development, which benefits all, and wealth, which benefits an individual.
He said since independence, many parts of Uganda, such as the roads from Kampala to Mbale and Tororo, had been tarmacked, but they are surrounded by poor people.
“And you have seen that you can have wealth even when there is little development. The man in Abim, Charles, there is no development there, but the man has got wealth, the same in Amudat. If you have your pigs like Lokong, even if there is no tarmac road, and you put your pigs on a pick-up to Mbale, will they refuse because there is no tarmac road? So please let’s be clear.”
On education, the President said the government is going to insist on enforcing free education in government schools.
“Our plan was free education for primary, secondary, and technical, but some people keep charging fees. We were going to fight that. We got diverted because of Corona, but we’re going to insist on free education for all the children in primary and secondary schools,” he stated, adding that Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) were designed to be day schools where children come to study and return home, to avoid the costs of accommodation so that the government concentrates on paying teachers, setting up laboratories, and buying textbooks.
About setting up a university in Karamoja, the President said the plan to establish a university in all 18 zones of Uganda was decided long ago, and about 12 regions such as Teso, West Nile, Fort portal, Mbarara, Kabale have universities, and Karamoja has to benefit.
At the same rally that was also addressed by the Vice President, H.E Jessica Alupo Rose Epel, leaders in Karamoja unanimously moved a motion to support President Museveni in 2026 general elections and requested that he offer himself as a candidate on the NRM ticket for the re-election.
The meeting was also attended by Ministers, Members of Parliament, and religious leaders, among others.
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