President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has concluded his zonal tour for Lango with a strong appeal to the people of the sub-region to deeply get involved in wealth creation following the government’s well-thought out intervention of Parish Development Model program.
“This is the time to get out of poverty. The NRM government is telling you that this word; PDM is your solution to your problems. The government is sending shs. 100 million per parish per year and in 5 years shs.500 million and in the 3rd year the ones who got first will start paying back with a small interest of 6% per year and in 2 years the interest will be shs.120,000. This is really free money. In 5 years 300 people will have paid and the parish will be having shs.800 million. This is the time to get out of poverty,” President Museveni asserted.
The President accompanied by the First Lady, Maama Janet Museveni who is also the Minister of Education and Sports, was on Thursday, 30th January, 2025 making remarks at a public rally at Alanyi Primary School in Alanyi parish, Abako sub-county,Ajuri county in Alebtong district.
The President was winding up his zonal tour in the districts of Lango sub-region that include Apac, Amolatar, Alebtong, Dokolo, Kole,Otuke and Oyam that run under the theme: “Securing your Future through Shared Wealth Creation and Prosperity”.
President Museveni reminded all leaders in the country of his guidance to count people in every parish to determine the number of homesteads for proper planning and provision of adequate resources as the crucial aspect is for people to start executing the program and know what to do.
“I have told our people, you count how many homesteads are in the parish. If there are many homesteads we can add money, instead of shs.100 million we shall send shs.200 million. But what was crucial was to start and to know what to do,” the President pointed out.
President Museveni once again encouraged the people of Alebtong district and Lango sub-region in general to utilize the peace that the NRM government has established in their region and other parts of the country for wealth creation.
“When I say peace you people of Alebtong and Otuke know better. You were very much disturbed by the Karamojong cattle rustlers but you are now saying not even a goat has been stolen from your area, that is what NRM promised you that there will be total peace in all corners of the country,” President Museveni said.
He additionally recounted the security situation during the past regimes, noting that by the time the Obote government collapsed there were only 8,000 soldiers and by the time Amin was defeated the army had 20,000 soldiers. However, from the Karamojong, we recovered 41,000 guns. In other words the guns which were in Karamoja were more than the guns held by both the armies of Amin and Obote. Without disarming the Karamojong this area would not have moved. Now you get Acholi, Lango, Teso, Sebei and Bugisu are all peaceful even within Karamoja itself there is peace,” President Museveni noted.
The National Chairman of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) also cautioned the wanainchi to demand peaceful politics from political actors who go around talking about politics.
On the issue of development, President Museveni called on all Ugandans not to mix development with wealth creation.
He explained that development is for the government and is for everyone as opposed to wealth creation which is on an individual basis in one’s homestead.
Commenting on employment, President Museveni pointed out that jobs are found in wealth creation. He cited some of the wealth creators he visited during his country wide PDM assessment tour, who have equally created jobs.
The President illustrated his point by showing the gathering recordings of inspiring testimonies by Joseph Ijala of Kakus-Serere, the proprietor of Teifa Farm sitting on two and a half acres of land and earns over shs.1 billion from his several enterprises and when costs are subtracted, he remains with shs. 800 million.
Others are Joel Okello of Amolatar District, Lokung Emmanuel from Nakapiripirit,Apio Vicky from Banya cell in Amach Town Council-Lira district and the very active Minister of State for transport, Hon. Fred Byamukama MP Bugangaizi West Constituency, who is even employing over 26 workers.
“Now the young people also talk about jobs but many people don’t know that it is wealth creation which produces jobs. So when people say that where are the jobs? Jobs are with wealth creation. The ones who tell you about government jobs which are limited, are the enemies of the country.They are misleading you,” the President observed.
On infrastructure in Alebtong district, President Museveni explained that the government had to prioritize the PDM program over the roads in-order to combat poverty first.
“We would have done this road from Lira-Aloi-Apala-Adwari-Patong up to Abim but we had to divert money to PDM, because it is not correct to have a tarmac road when poverty is nearby. That is why we have to direct shs.2 trillion per year to PDM and Emyooga program.But once our oils start coming,we are going to do all the roads,” President Museveni assured the people of Alebtong and Uganda in general.
On government’s development programs like health, the President emphasized on prevention other than cure. He said many programs like immunization have become game changers in the health sector that has got rid of all preventable diseases.
He added that other measures would include nutrition, malaria prevention by using mosquito nets and avoiding alcohol.
“I don’t drink alcohol.That is one of the reasons God has kept my health,” he said.
On education, the President noted that free education in government primary and secondary schools was the priority of the NRM, but the charging of school fees has now led to the high dropout of children from schools.
“We are going to get time to discuss this seriously,” he vowed.
President Museveni used the same occasion to caution the wanainchi against misusing wetlands, highlighting their importance for irrigation as a key component in high yields of crops.
He advised people near the wetlands to do fish farming at the periphery of the swamps and stop growing rice as the earnings from fish is much more than that of rice from one acre.
President Museveni thanked the people of Alebtong for endorsing him as the NRM Presidential candidate but asked them to be patient as the matter will be discussed by the CEC, NEC and the National Conference of NRM and the Secretary General of the party will report on the outcome.
The event that was attended by the Vice President, H.E Jessica Alupo also saw the crossing over to NRM of opposition big wigs from Amuru district together with 68 converts.
The LC 5 Chairman of Alebtong district, Mr. Odongo David Kennedy appreciated the NRM government’s social, economic and political development programs extended to the people of Alebtong.
He disclosed the impressive statistics of PDM funds disbursement in Alebtong district, noting that 99% of the PDM funds are with the beneficiaries.
The event was also attended by Ministers, Members of Parliament, cultural and religious leaders, among others.
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