FDC presidential flag bearer Dr. Kizza Besigye has promised to increase the salary for the lowest police officer to sh650,000.
“Those police officers you see are destitute. The struggle we are involved in includes liberation of police officers. We shall increase the salary for the lowest police officer to sh650, 000,” Besigye promised, causing a thunderous applause from his supporters. The lowest police officer currently earns sh350,000.
He made the pledge on Saturday during his rally at Mutukula near Uganda’s border with Tanzania.
Vowing that he would never betray them, Besigye promised the people of Rakai a federal system of governance with autonomous regional governments which can solve the social-economic problems of their communities.
Besigye started traversing the villages and towns in Rakai district as early as 8:00am and ended with a rally at Kyotera that ended at 7:00pm. Besigye addressed rallies at Kasensero landing site, Rakai town, Lumbugu, Kakuuto, Byakabanda, Bakijulula, Kibaale, and Kabonero among others. Some of his supporters gave him money.
At every rally, Besigye urged his supporters to form various groups of 10 people dubbed Power10 (P10) in every area to get on the countrywide network of volunteers who will prevent any form of rigging.
“It is very unfortunate that 30 years down the road we are still facing the problem of vote rigging which is the reason Museveni waged a war. You have seen NRM people rigging in their party primaries. You can guess what will happen when they compete with the opposition,” Besigye said.
Besigye said he had received disturbing reports of security officers pulling down his posters and intimidating his voters.
Besigye dismissed fears that the army would not allow the opposition to take over in case President Museveni loses. “Gen. Muntu you see there and I contributed to the building of our army. It is not Museveni’s army. It is a national army which should not be partisan,” Besigye argued.
Besigye promised to increase the budget for the education sector. He repeatedly promised a computer to each of the secondary school student and pay raise for the teachers. He said salary for primary teachers will be increased to sh650, 000, secondary teacher sh1m and sh3.5million for a medical doctor.
The lowest paid primary teacher currently earns sh310,000 and the lowest graduate secondary teacher earns sh480,000.
“Our problem is not lack of money but misuse of the money. Buying computers for secondary students requires only US$360m but the NRM government bought six fighter jets at US$760m. Rwanda pays her public servants better than us yet Uganda has more money than Rwanda,” he argued.
Highlighting the importance of moving at the same pace with the rest of the world in embracing the computer/ICT revolution, Besigye said, “Gone are the days of writing on ground as it was in Kaguta’s school days. This is a computer age and young people must be given the necessary facilities to be competitive in the global market.”
He promised that his government would re-instate presidential term limit..
“President Museveni has been in power for 30 years. When a leader overstays in power, he starts destroying even the good things he had done and increasingly becomes a dictator. What Museveni has failed to do in 30 years he cannot do in the next five years,” Besigye argued.
The FDC presidential flag bearer said his government would prioritize the agricultural sector in eradicating poverty.
“Whereas over 80% of Ugandans depend on agriculture, the NRM government in its wisdom spends more money on State House and Office of the president than what is allocated to NAADS,” he said.
He promised various initiatives for boosting agriculture including provision of tractors, an agricultural bank, irrigation schemes, investing in agricultural research, constructing storage facilities, reviving cooperatives, and establishing national food reserves.
His other promises included reconstructing state institutions to be non-partisan, infrastructure development, scraping unnecessary government expenditures, revamping the health sector, and constructing an economy whose growth is reflected in all the citizens.
A recent Vision Group survey showed that Health related issues top the issues that concern the voters in Central region. Other issues of major concern included Water and Sanitation related issues; Road network; National security; Poverty; and Employment related issues.
VOX POPS FROM RAKAI VOTERS
Patrick Katumba (farmer in Bigandu):
We want markets for our produce. We also hope that Besigye will work on our roads because most of them are in a bad state. We don’t have clean water and no medicine in hospitals.
Jovanish Natukunda (Lumbugu village):
We shall vote someone who is ready to bring us clean water in our area. We also want better prices for our produce and medicines in the hospitals. UPE schools are charging us fees.
Doris Nambajjo:
There are so many educated people who have no jobs. I want the next president to address that crisis. Many of our children fail to get university education because parents are too poor to pay for them. The power tariffs are so high.
Richard Mutebi (secondary teacher at Heroes Vocational SS):
We want someone who will create employment opportunities in all sectors. Most secondary school teachers are not on government payroll. They are in private schools which are exploiting them. The salaries for teachers should be increased.
Emmanuel Ntale
Most of the roads in Rakai are in a sorry state. Poverty levels are so high. We are tired of empty promises from political leaders. We want leaders who can seriously solve peoples’ problems. The dropout rate of students is high because of high poverty levels.
Remegio Ssenkima
The roads in our area are very bad. We also want a leader who will bring factories to our area to solve the high rate of unemployment. We need markets for our produce. We want teachers to be paid well so that they are motivated to teach our children. Our hospitals have no medicines and medical workers are not enough.
Dominiko Bwogi
The first problem I want addressed is to increase salaries for teachers so that they can have a decent living which befits their noble work. In most of the places in Rakai district we don’t we have clean water.
