Encircled by the imposing hills of Kirindi village in Bundibugyo district is a twoacre farm that belongs to Israel Kamya, a 63-year-old farmer whose plantation is scattered with ageing cocoa and palm trees.
Kamya, who earns about sh4.6m from dried cocoa, was upbeat when he attended NRM presidential candidate, Yoweri Museveni’s rally at Namugongo Primary School
playground in Bwamba county.
“Most of the people who buy my produce are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but the bridge on River Semliki needs repair for me to export my produce,” Kamya told New Vision.
He said Museveni has done a big job by tarmacking the Fort Portal-Bundibugyo road and extending electricity to more places, which has enabled the area to improve economically.
“The big debt I am left with is building a bridge at Lamya that connects to the DRC and another at River Semliki,” Museveni told his supporters.
The NRM candidate also promised to tarmack major roads leading up the lush mountains of Semuliki National Park that have become a tourist destination. At least 38% of voters in the western region want the candidate who wins next month’s polls to work on roads and health, a recent Vision Group opinion poll involving 6,626 Ugandans revealed.
The voters’ next top priorities are water, poverty and security, the survey revealed. Across the western region, roads are still the main concern, followed by health and water, according to the survey.
At his next rally in Bughendera county, Museveni was received by his supporters, including Christopher Kibanzanga, the area NRM MP flag-bearer.
Kibanzanga, the brother of the Omusinga Wa Rwenzururu and former Busongora South constituency MP, left the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party to contest in Bughendera.
Kibanzanga said he was determined to ensure that Opposition parties do not attain victory at all levels of political leadership in the forthcoming elections.
Education
Museveni promised that government-aided secondary schools would be built in Kirumya, Busaru and Kisuba sub-counties in Bwamba county, where they have not
yet been established.
Bwamba county is represented in Parliament by Kamanda Bataringaya, the state minister of labour and industrial relations.
“The MP you elect should work with my office and the education ministry to solve this problem, so that every parish has a government primary school and every sub-county a government secondary school.”
The President pledged to establish governmentaided primary schools in the parishes of Humya Kagema, Kahungu and Kasiri, where they are yet to be built. He also promised that each constituency would have a technical school, in line with the government policy of improving skills training.
Wealth creation
Museveni hailed the people of Bundibugyo as an industrious community that was richly endowed with natural resources, but advised supporters to diversify their income streams.
“You have coffee, cocoa, ebikindo, upland rice and palm oil. If only you could add to that dairy cows, poultry keeping and pigs, you would be successful farmers,” he said.
The President said the plan was possible since the Government had established wealth creation programmes, including the National Agricultural Advisory Services
(NAADS) whose budget will be increased from sh200b to sh1,000b.
Museveni also pledged to increase the youth fund to sh234b, create a sh234b budget for women and increase savings and Credit Co-operative Society (SACCOS) funds to sh180b so that each village can have micro-credit fund of at least sh2m.
In order to ease access to the loans, Museveni said he had issued a directive to the Micro-Finance Support Centre to scrap the requirement for collateral on small loans to the poor.
“I do not want to hear about security for government microfinance loans. If a group backs someone, that confidence in the borrower should be enough security,” he said.
Water
In Ntoroko county, Ntoroko district, Museveni pledged to address the challenge of water shortage in the district through a gravity fl ow scheme where water is pumped from River Msizi.
Museveni said the water shortage would be delt with when the district gets roads
equipment procured by the Government from Japan to build valley dams.
Under the project, each of the districts would get a water bowser, road compactor and wheel loader, while a bulldozer would be placed in Kabarole to help in the construction of valley dams.
“You can fuel the machines yourselves so that each of you is able to build their own valley dams for the cattle,” Museveni advised. He promised that the Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhakana Rugunda, would meet residents to address their request for a grave site.
Museveni addressed his last rally in Bunyangabu county, Kabarole district, where he promised to tarmack the rads over Nsongi and Nsongya bridges in Bunyangabu constituency and several roads in the agricultural corridor.
Supporters gave the NRM presidential fl ag-bearer gifts, including gourds of milk, a spear, shield and baskets of produce
