President Yoweri Museveni who is also the Presidential flag bearer of the National Resistance Movement has said that the Movement government having taken Uganda through several development phases, will in the coming five years focus on socio-economic transformation of the country mainly on poverty eradication and job creation.

Addressing a campaign rally at Ibuje Primary school in Maruzi County, Apac district this afternoon, the President said after bringing about national unity, guaranteeing security and peace, rehabilitating the economy and national infrastructures, the next phase will be causing national transformation by supporting policies and programs that aim at eradicating household poverty and job creation.

Mr. Museveni said that in this transformation phase government is to increase funding in the agricultural sector especially the NAADS program to ensure that the population boosts their incomes from agriculture that must be commercial and profit oriented.

President Museveni further said to solve unemployment and fighting poverty government will further boost micro-credit support programs by increasing funding in the sector targeting the youth and the women.

“We have already put money in the youth fund and 7 billion in the women fund we are going to direct more resources to these programs so as to reach as many people as possible” he said.

Mr. Museveni said that the National Resistance Movement has managed to develop the country with limited resources by prioritizing the major sectors of the economy and today was the time to even do more since the national resource basket is bigger than ever before.

“The culture of prioritization is very important. You need to adopt it even in your own homes because you can’t do all things at the same time but you must sequence them in the order of their importance or else you fail to deliver anything. We for example put 200 billion in NAADS and we know that it’s not enough but we invest Shs3000 billion annually in the road sector because it’s a much bigger national priority that touches every citizen and all sectors of the economy” he noted.

He announced that government has secured funds to tarmac the road from Rwenkunyu, Masindi port, Apac, Lira, Palanga up to Acholi Bur.

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The number of refugees fleeing danger in East Africa and the Horn regions is likely to rise by December this year, stretching the three million mark.
According to an October – December report titled ‘The Humanitarian Outlook for the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region’ compiled by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), despite conflict incidents decreasing in hotspots in the region, the intermittent clashes in Burundi, Yemen and South Sudan are expected to displace about 194.000 more people, bringing the total number of refugees in the region to over 3.37 million by year end.

UNOCHA also says countries in the region, most especially Ethiopia, are likely to face food insecurity arising from the El Nino phenomenon.
‘By the beginning of 2016 the number of people who are food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance is expected to increase to 32.1 million. Up to 2 million people could be affected by flooding,’ UNOCHA says in its quarterly report.
According to UNOCHA, rising food prices in Ethiopia and South Sudan, declining tax and donor revenue in Burundi and falling remittances in Somalia will also affect the most vulnerable people in the respective countries.
The UN humanitarian agency also notes that its operations to counter the scourges in the most affected areas have been ‘increasingly constrained by restricted humanitarian access and funding shortfalls’.

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The National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate Yoweri Museveni has urged the people of Dokolo to support the party and maintain the rapid development.

Museveni, who was addressing a series of rallies in Dokolo North, Dokolo South, Erute North and Erute South Constituencies, said it is only the NRM Government that has the capacity to maintain peace, unity and development in Uganda.

Museveni also said the NRM has promoted East African Unity and the rest of Africa because it needs the market for Uganda’s goods and services, and added that the party has identified more markets in countries such as China and India.

Speaking at Iguli Primary School, Dokolo North, Museveni said Ugandans are aggressively demanding for seedlings and good animal breeds to improve their incomes.

“Having woken up and engaging in production we need to identify the market. The NRM Government has worked for East African unity and the African Union because it needs the market.” He observed that Uganda today produces 4 million tons of maize per annum as compared to only 200,000 tons produced in 1986. He observed that out of this the country consumes only one million tons. He was happy to note that the maize produced is consumed by the neighbouring countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

And at Agwen Primary School, Ogur sub county in Erute North, Museveni revealed that the government has been allocating five billion shillings per annum as compensation for cattle lost during the insurgency. He added that having made good progress with road construction, sufficient funds would soon be available with to enhance the cattle program.

The NRM flag Bearer further told the gathering that the NRM Government ushered in peace, which was the main foundation for the development and added that the peace we were enjoying today was a result of building a strong national army.

President Museveni revealed that the Government has allocated Sh 70bn this financial year towards the veterans’ fund and revealed that the women’s fund has been allocated Shs 7bn this year with an assurance that more funds would be availed soon.

The President said during the past 5 years the NRM has used 15,000 billion for the construction of roads and this has enabled the country to build all the major roads.

According to Museveni, the building of good roads and provision of electricity and water would attract more industries and create employment for the people of Lira.

He called on the electorate to vote for him and all the NRM flag bearers during the general elections.

“I am very happy to be here and to campaign for our party the NRM.

The NRM is like a rich man. It is easy to speak about a rich man because everybody will know who he is and what he has done. Everybody knows who is a rich man is in the village,” he said.

Museveni said when the NRM got a chance to come to government; they fought sectarianism and championed unity.

“When you have common problems you must have common efforts to solve them. If am suffering from malaria, I get coartem. Same coartem that you give a man or woman, Christians or Muslims. You can’t have coartem for Muslims alone or Christians. Fortunately, you listened to us. Ugandans listened to message of no change,” he said.

The President hailed the people of Lango for consistently voting NRM and urged them to vote ‘the Old man with a hat’.

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Ethiopia will host the Aid and Development Forum Africa Summit next year, focusing on technological innovations and best practices to improve aid delivery in East Africa. The February 2-3 summit to be held at the United Nations Conference Centre will bring together more than 250 senior officials from diverse backgrounds including government, the civil society organisations and
private sector. Key speakers include the UNDP Resident Representative in Kenya Nardos Bekele –Thomas; Dr Chukwudozie Ezigbalike of the Economic Commission of Africa, Dr Sharad Sapra of Unicef, Christopher Hoffman of the World Vision and Rishi Ramrakha of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The delegates will at the Summit will review case studies and also hold panel discussions, workshops, and interactive roundtable
sessions. ‘AIDF Africa Summit 2016 will provide comprehensive overview of the latest trends around humanitarian logistics, community health, WASH, security of aid workers and communities, camp management, mobile for development, financing, communication with communities and among aid agencies’ a release by the Africa Press Organisation (APO) states in
part.

According to the release, for 13 years the AIDF has, among others, partnered with several humanitarian and development organisations including the WFP, IFRC, World Vision, USAID, UNICEF Save the Children and the World Bank to carry on its mandate. Other partnering organisations include Oxfam, Habitat for Humanity, UN Habitat, CRS, FHI360 and the IRD.

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Government to focus on income generation

 President Yoweri Museveni who is also the National Resistance Movement Presidential flag bearer has described his party’s liberation struggle for Uganda as a long journey that started when the country was ungovernable.

“When we talk of NRM and Uganda, we talk about a long journey. It started when our country was ungovernable. The NRM has been on a journey with Uganda. We don’t ask whether we go forward or backwards. When the journey is long, some people get tired and get off. Besigye left us when we were fighting Kony in 2012. For Mbabazi, it is even laughable. That we go forward! We have been going forward for the last 50 years. The issue is should we continue or fall off,” he said.

President Museveni who was accompanied by the Hon. First Lady Janet Museveni, today address mammoth rallies in Luwero region the pinnacle of the bush war struggle that eventually brought peace to Uganda. Addressing a rally at Zirobwe Town Council, Bamunanika, Museveni rallied thousands of supporters to vote NRM, a party that liberated Uganda and ushered in peace and security, caused minimum economic recovery, rehabilitated and developed the country overtime. He said it was the only political organization that will lead the country to transformation and prosperity.

Museveni said that NRM has taken Uganda through development phases and was on a verge of transforming the country into a modern country and asked the electorate to give the party their mandate so as to complete this transformation process.

He said the movement government fought sectarianism of all kinds, marginalization of the youth, women and the disabled among others.

“The Movement believes that any one who promotes sectarianism is evil and satanic and should be shunned,” he said.

He said that because of the limited resources, government has been prioritizing and implementing government projects and programs in the order of their national importance. He noted that emphasis was first put on defense and security, health through immunization that resulted into rapid population growth from 14 million in 1986 to 38 million today, education through the UPE and USE programs, roads and electricity the reason the country has performed better in these particular sectors.

Mr. Museveni said that during the new term, more emphasis will be put on fighting household poverty through increased budgeting and funding of the wealth creation campaign, payment of the veteran pension and job creation.

On the reported eviction of bibanja holders by the landlords, the President instructed the Resident District Commissioner Luwero to stop the unlawful eviction of the bibanja holders as the law prohibits such unlawful evictions.

On unemployment, the President said that this will be solved by industrializing the country and adding value to the country’s agricultural produce as well as extending micro-credit support to women and youth groups.

At Makulubita Seed Secondary School in Katikamu Sub county, Candidate Museveni pointed out the numerous NRM achievements and assured the people that with the increased tax base more priorities including income generation are going to be done.

On education, President Museveni noted that with NRM Universal Primary and Secondary education every child can afford to go to school. He however called for skills education for the youth to be able to fit in the current job demand.

He urged Ugandans to continue supporting and vote NRM in the forthcoming elections for continued development.

At Kasana open grounds in Luwero, reiterated his government’s policy to prioritize projects to improve household incomes by investing more money in the NAADS programme.

“There is a huge thirst and demand for seedlings and improved breeds by the people. We are now going to put more money in NAADs like we did for the roads,” he said.

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