Reporting by Joseph Kizza & Norah Mukimba
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4.40PM: NEERA, NEERA, NEERA
4.30PM: AND IT’S ANOTHER WRAP!
OK, we are done here ladies and gentlemen. THE NRM MANIFESTO HAS BEEN LAUNCHED and the event has been as brief and clear as that. It’s a Friday, and for many people, the weekend has started. Wherever you are, whatever you are up to, do so responsibly.
Good evening!
Let’s leave you with pictures of Museveni driving a Volkswagen . . .
4. 2PM: ‘THANK YOU’
Meanwhile, in his closing remarks, Museveni says: “Bribing voters is very bad. I thank my team for the manifesto for the 2016-2021 period.“
4.20PM: ‘CLEAR AGENDA’
Just something or two about Maj. Rubaramira Ruranga . . .
The former head of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Electoral Commission defected to the NRM in October, 2013. On his defection, he at the time said that NRM is the only political party that has got a clear agenda in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
4.15PM: POLITICS ‘NOT A JOKE’
Museveni says the government has been very systematic and has been growing in stages. “If a child is at the stage of crawling, you cannot ask why he or she is not going to school.”
The NRM leader, who is in pursuit of his fourth successive election victory, goes on to tell the audience: “Politics is not a joke, it is a matter of life and death. So, if you don’t vote wisely, you will never gain. You should never buy or sell your vote. You cannot go forward if you don’t know how to go forward.”
3.55PM: AS A PARTY, UNITED WE STAND . . .
Who knows that better than Minister Frank Tumwebaze (left) and Wakiso MP Rosemary Seninde?
3.50PM: ‘DIFFERENT ANGLES’
Remember earlier NRM secretary general Justine Lumumba talking about how high up the party places infrastructure on its priority list? I bet you do. Well, Museveni touches on just about that, before speaking “angles”. . . not Mathematics though.
“The manifesto is more about the plans in details like construction of schools, hospitals, roads and many others. Electricity is almost at all district headquarters, except from three headquarters in Kapchorwa.
“I have made preparations and I am now waiting for how to effect the plans from different angles.”
3.40PM: ‘WE EXPORT LITTLE’
President Museveni says: “Don’t make lies in a manifesto. We have common problems such as lack of good roads, schools, hospitals. You send your representatives to develop the villages. The ideology of NRM is one Uganda and patriotism because if you cannot understand patriotism, then you cannot understand leadership.
“Our problems stem from the fact that we import a lot and export little. We should export more just like we are doing with cotton. Exporting raw materials has limited creation of jobs. I one time said that we would have a coffee processor here and now we have one. We are selling a kilo of coffee at more profits.”
3.35PM: ‘VEHICLES NOT FOR YOU’
Earlier, while addressing candidates and their representatives, Electoral Commission chairman Eng. Badru Kiggundu made it very clear that the vehicles given are not supposed to carry candidates, but their guards. He lauded the candidates for reaching a decision on their campaigns in time.
Kiggundu said he had expected the process to take up to Sunday and assured them that he expects a peaceful process.
Five candidates appeared for the meeting in person: Maj. Gen. Benon Biraaro, Maureen Kyalya, Venansius Baryamureeba, Joseph Mabirizi and Abed Bwankia. The rest were represented: Edwin Karugire (for Yoweri Museveni), Michael Kabaziguruka (for Kizza Besigye) and Agnes Nakaweesi (for Amama Mbabazi).
3.30PM: CAMPAIGN PROGRAM CONCLUDED
Meanwhile, as the launching of the NRM manifesto goes on, the Electoral Commission in a different part of the city, specifically at its head offices along Jinja road, has concluded the campaign program and the candidates have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
Just to remind you that there are eight presidential candidates who were filtered through the nominations process over two days at Mandela National Stadium, Namboole on Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
3.20PM: ‘NOT A CHARITY’
Addressing the large audience, President Museveni says that the “mobilisers brought many more people than I had expected for the nomination rally at Kololo. We are going to perfect our party”.
“There are many obstacles that we should avoid in our mobilization. People should stop giving money to supporters because we are not a charity.”
3.10PM: ‘DIAGNOSES PROBLEMS OF UGANDA’
Rugunda tells the audience that the manifesto “diagnoses the problems of Uganda; what remains to be done and how”.
The Manifesto Committee, we learn,was appointed four months ago, and includes:
Adolf Mwesige, Tarsis Kabwegyere, Frank Tumwebaze, Daudi Migereko, Irene Muloni, Justine Lumumba, Fred Omach and Kisamba Mugerwa.
The technical team has: Moses Byaruhanga and David Mafabi.
Rugunda then presents a copy of the manifesto to the party chairman President Museveni
3.05PM ‘OUR ROOTS’
The secretary general says the party will launch it rallies on Monday in Luweero, “our maker, the origin of NRM”
Other original areas she mentions are Nakaseke and Nakasongola, saying that “it’s a sign we still remember our roots”.
“As a ruling party, let us be an example to the rest of the parties,” she concludes before inviting over the Chairperson of the Manifesto Committee, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda.
3.00PM: KEY PRIORITY
Lumumba goes on to say that the party’s number one priority is infrastructure. Besides, she adds, special interest groups (youths, women and PWDs) are another key priority. “The teams that used to be despised before the NRM came to power” are another top priority.
2.50PM: ‘OUR BIBLE’
Once the anthems are done, NRM secretary general Justine Lumumba, wearing a lovely yellow kitenge, takes to the podium, where she thanks everyone that turned up at Kololo Airstrip on Tuesday to receive the party leader President Yoweri Museveni after he was nominated by the Electoral Commission.
She says the the party expects all candidates to use the manifesto as “our bible” during the campaigns and warns the same aspiring political leaders not to campaign anything that is outside of the party’s roadmap.
“Stick to the manifesto,” she says.
2.45PM: WE ARE UNDERWAY
OK ladies and gentlemen, it’s wet and chilly outside, but we are underway inside the lush Imperial Royale Hotel, from where President Museveni is due to launch the NRM 2016-2021 manifesto.
The national anthem is being sung as the President, wearing a long-sleeved yellow shirt and flanked by his wife Janet, Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, Secretary general Justine Lumumba, Prime Minister Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda and others, stand at a attention in front of a large audience.
2.35PM: ‘A GREAT DEAL OF SUCCESS’
In 2011, the NRM manifesto was premised on the theme, Accelerating Prosperity for All, and Minister Tumwebaze argues that: “The last five years have focused on this with a great deal of success.”
2.20PM: ‘WE WANT JOBS’
Unemployment was the eighth-most important issue the voters raised in a recent Vision Group poll. They want their elected leaders to address it in next year’s general elections.
The NRM manifesto carries the message of jobs in its theme: Taking Uganda
to modernity through jobs-creation and inclusive development.
Under this theme, the NRM manifesto (2016-2021) also states that a solid foundation has been laid for the country to transform into a middle-income country in the next five years.
2.15PM: MORE HIGHLIGHTS
As you scramble for a dry place away from the rain, let me pump you a little with some more highlights of the NRM manifesto.
Here you go:
- Build investor confidence l Establish innovation centres
- Modernise agriculture to improve household income to sh25m per annum
- Set up phosphates and fertilisers processing plants in Tororo
- Pursue engagement with EAC members towards realisation of political federation
- Build an oil refinery with capacity to produce 60,000 barrels and an oil pipeline
- More investment in sports
- The national backbone Infrastructure project to connect UPDF barracks and police headquarters
- Open Soroti University
- Build teachers houses; construct a primary school per parish. l Improve clean water accessibility
2.05PM: RAIN, RAIN, RAIN
And out of nowhere, the skies unleash unto us what they love best: rain. I didn’t see it coming, but heck it’s a blessing to have an eaRly afternoon shower for a cooling effect. It’s now a wet afternoon in the city centre, ladies and gentlemen.
So let me remind you that the launching of the NRM manifesto is taking place at Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala.
2.00PM: THE HIGHLIGHTS
Here are the highlights of the NRM manifesto . . .
- Judges to be hired on short-term contracts to help reduce case backlog
- Setup business centres in Jinja, Gulu, Mbarara, Kabale, Hoima and Arua
- The district land tribunals will be operationalised
- Youth Livelihood programme to benefit 300,000 youths
- Strengthen anti-graft laws
- Fast-tracking skills training to address gaps in key sectors like oil
- Tackle high lending rates
- Invest in power generation
- Strengthen informal sector
1.40PM: PEOPLE’S MANIFESTO
We are seeing the health sector soaking up most of the attention in the NRM manifesto.
No doubt, because according to an opinion poll conducted by Vision Group in June, 44% of Ugandans cited health-related issues as the most pressing needs they want leaders to address. The poll ranked shortages of health facilities, drugs and ambulances in health centres, long distances to health centres, few and unfriendly health workers as well as poor maternity services as the voters’ top concerns.
The NRM manifesto has revealed some health interventions that will tackle the issues of voters as the eight candidates start to plot for the 2016 presidential elections.
1.30PM: THE PROMISE
In its manifesto, the NRM is making a promise of building new hospitals and re-equip the old ones. Here is an artist’s impression of Mityana Hospital.
1.25PM: COUNTING THE COST
Feel like some Maths? Considering that we’ve long since been relieved of obsolete calculating devices like the abacus, let’s pull out some calcs – or better still, use your phone . . .
I’ve mentioned that the construction of nine new hospitals is in the pipeline. A modern district hospital could cost as much as $15m – a quick conversion bringing that to sh51b.
Get calculating now . . .
The government is currently in the advanced stages of constructing the Kiruddu General Referral Hospital in Makindye Division, Kampala at the cost of $15m.
1.20PM: EYES ON HEALTH
This new manifesto is going to draw a significant amount of your attention to the health sector. The NRM plans to build nine new hospitals, on top of expanding and re-equipping 24 existing hospitals. Construction of some 69 housing units for medical workers in Karamoja region is also part of the party’s plan.
This is according to an overview of the manifesto in a statement by Frank Tumwebaze, the minister for the presidency and Kampala.
1.10PM: WHERE TO?
Here in Kampala, it has been a very busy political week, and now that the presidential nomination process is done and dusted and the eight candidates known, the race to State House has become more defined. The party in power has had an even busier week following a four-day delegates’ conference that came hot-on-the-heels of the primaries.
With that out of the way, the NRM’s presidential candidate and party chairman, President Yoweri Museveni, is launching the NRM manifesto a little later this afternoon. In which direction does the party want to lead the country? We shall find out.
