NEWS- President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni yesterday February 15th 2024, met and held discussions with Gomba and Sembabule District leaders at his Kisozi farm in Gomba District.
According to the Presidential Press Secretary Faruk Kirunda, the meeting sought to outline how the nine villages from Gomba and Sembabule Districts have benefitted from the project given to them by the President in 2011 and to see how the remaining districts can be brought on board to benefit from the program with the help of the leaders.
During the meeting, President Museveni emphasized the need for leaders to prioritise household income of the communities they lead, explaining that once the issue is dealt with, the rest of the development can follow with ease.
The President emphasized that the roads, electricity, and other infrastructure developments are not the medicine for poverty, and made it categorically clear that the medicine for poverty in rural areas is good household income and good salary for those with paid jobs.
It should be remembered that in 2011, President Museveni donated cows, goats, coffee seedlings, pigs to households in 9 villages in Gomba and Sembabule Districts with the aim of generating incomes to improve their livelihoods.
The villages which benefitted include Kirasi, Kisozi A, Kisozi B, Obutugu, Lutunku A, Lutunku B, Kajumilo, Kasozi and Kikuumadungu, where 2035 households have benefited since the program started.
President Museveni said that from the 1960s, he has been fighting poverty, starting with Ankole region where he advised cattle keepers to stop nomadism, settle down, fence their lands and graze friesian cows for dairy farming and added that the Ankole people embraced his message of wealth creation and therefore he wants the people of Gomba and Sembabule people to embrace it as well.
“When I came here in the 1990s, I found all people here democratically poor, their only job during that time was to wait for me along the way and beg for money from me because they had no source of income,” The President said.
President Museveni further informed the leaders that the project in the nine villages, was a pilot study and since it has been successful, it should now be taken to the rest of the villages in Gomba and Sembabule Districts.
He also assured the leaders of the necessary support to improve the livelihood of the people they lead but asked them to mobilise their people to embrace government programs such as Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga to fight poverty.
The President also promised to further support the project beneficiaries who have been able to ensure that the program is successful and pledged to continue adding more resources in the project and also add more money in their SACCO.
While speaking at the same event, the Gomba West Member of Parliament, Hon Robina Rwakoojo thanked the President for his visionary leadership and will to change the lives of the people he leads. She added that as leaders, they are already preaching the President’s message of increasing household income to the people through several government initiatives like Parish Development Model.
The Mawogola North Member of Parliament Hon Shartis Musherure Kutesa thanked President Museveni for bringing up such projects that are causing development in Gomba, Sembabule, and the whole country and assured the President that the people of Sembabule have embraced the Parish Development Model project and that the money is being well utilised for the right cause.
Gomba District Woman Member of Parliament, Hon Sylvia Nayebale also commended President Museveni for being an exemplary leader who works towards improving the welfare of Ugandans. She also appreciated the President for the project that has improved the livelihoods of the people of Gomba and Sembabule and these views were also echoed by Sembabule District Woman Member of Parliament Hon Mary Begumisa who attended the meeting.
The Project Coordinator Ms Sarah Nalwanga, told the President that his entandikwa scheme has done tremendous work in changing the lives of people in the 9 villages and added that people who started with one cow now have like 8 cows and those who started with an acre of coffee have also been able to expand and have transformed their lives.
