Gulu-President Yoweri Museveni has assured Ugandans that the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) is a strong force that is time tested and that has secured the country and guaranteed peace and stability for decades. He said that the force is not a dictatorship and needs to be led by a clear-headed political leadership to safeguard the country and cement national unity and stability.

Speaking yesterday afternoon shortly after officiating at the commissioning of the Gulu-Atiak-Nimule road in Gulu Municipality, President Museveni who is in Northern Uganda on a four day working tour to promote the Operation Wealth Creation Campaign, urged citizens to value their electoral power, vote wisely and vote the right leadership that will guide the UPDF to perform their duties and ensure national security that will propel national development.

The road which has been upgraded and tarmacked from Gulu to the Ugandan – South Sudan boarder of Nimule cost the government Shs89billion and was funded by a loan from the World Bank.

The President said that the National Resistance Movement inherited a failed state in 1986 characterized by insecurity and total economic breakdown and developed formidable state institutions that have guaranteed peace, security and economic development of the country overtime. He appealed to Ugandans to support the time tested leadership of the Movement government to guarantee the brighter future of Uganda.

“We have built a strong army but it’s not a dictatorship and needs a well founded and clear headed leadership to be sure that the country’s future is safe. Even if you have a strong army without clear political leadership you can’t guarantee national peace and transformation therefore value your vote because it counts,” he said.

The President who equated a weak government to a “body infected with the HIV virus” stressed that to bring about total peace in all corners of Uganda, it took the wise decision by the National Resistance Movement to invest heavily in strengthening the army that in turn defeated the Lord’s Resistance Army, Allied Democratic forces and disarmed the Karimajong cattle rustlers.

“We took a leadership decision to strengthen the army against the wishes of many other players because we had realized that insecurity was bred out of the weaknesses in the army and by 2003 we had defeated Kony and you can see the development taking place in Northern Uganda. We have totally defeated Allied democratic forces and arrested their leader Jamil Mukulu who should tell us why they have been killing Ugandans and they can never attack Uganda because they will pay a heavy price” he said.

The President urged Ugandans to be mindful of the leaders the leaders they elect and urged them to make good use of the peace and the excellent infrastructures such as the good roads and work to get themselves out of poverty especially through commercial agriculture.

He noted that because the economy is doing well and the tax base has widen and with more revenue expected from the oil production government will do her part and give more support to Ugandans but noted that citizens needed to wake up and play their part in this wealth creation drive and get out poverty.

The President said that the National Resistance Movement believes in working as opposed to politicking and urged leaders in northern Uganda to join hands with government and develop their region instead of opposing every project and program that is initiated by government.

“Factories are good for the development of your region through generation of employment and being markets of what you produce but it surprises me when politicians oppose every investor I invite here” he said.

The Minister for Disaster Preparedness Engineer Hillary Onek commended President Museveni for standing with the people of northern Uganda in times of war, insecurity and in peaceful days of development.

“Mr. President you are our true friend because you have always been here even at times when no leader would go beyond Karuma Bridge and you continue to be with us as we rehabilitate and develop our motherland and we don’t take you for granted” he said.

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People in Burundi are voting amid widespread tension over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to stand for a third consecutive term.

Polls opened at 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT), after a night of gunfire and explosions claimed two lives in the capital Bujumbura.

The president’s critics say the vote is unconstitutional, as he is only entitled to stand for two terms only.

The government accuses the opposition of provoking violent protests.

The BBC’s Maud Jullien in Bujumbura says shooting was continuing in the streets on Tuesday morning.

‘Terrorist acts’

Bursts of gunfire could be heard in at least one district of the capital, as polling stations were about to open, she added.

A policeman and a civilian are believed to have died.

The president’s office has described the latest protests as terrorist acts intended to disrupt the election.

Chief communications adviser Willy Nyamitwe said: “People do it to intimidate voters. They don’t want the voters to go to the polls.”

About 1,000 people are fleeing into Tanzania each day to escape the violence, according to medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

It said many families were crossing “on foot without any belongings”.

Who is Pierre Nkurunziza?

• Born in 1964
• Rebel leader-turned president
• Born-again Christian
• Former sports teacher
• Cycles and plays football
• Married with two children
• Father killed in ethnic violence in 1972

Profile: Pierre Nkurunziza

Why Burundi poll matters

Three minor opposition leaders are running for the presidency. Mr Nkurunziza’s four main rivals, including Agathon Rwasa, are boycotting the poll, but the electoral commission has kept their names on the ballot paper.

The African Union (AU) has not sent observers – the first time it has taken such a stance against a member state.

It says the security climate does not allow for free and fair elections.

‘Hollow triumph’

The European Union has expressed a similar view, and has cut some aid to Burundi to show its anger with Mr Nkurunziza.

At least 70 people have been killed in protests since he announced in April that he was running for a third term.

In May, army generals opposed to his continuing rule failed to overthrow him in a coup.

Critics say that a win for President Nkurunziza would be a hollow triumph that will result in him governing a bitterly-divided nation.

Tensions between Burundi’s ethnic Hutu majority – comprising some 85% of the 10.5 million population – and the country’s Tutsi minority have flared up regularly since independence from Belgium in 1962.

Mr Nkurunziza led a Hutu rebel group fighting the Tutsi-dominated army until a peace deal led to him becoming president in 2005.

The Constitutional Court has backed his argument that his first term in office did not count towards the two-term limit, as he was elected by MPs.

Some 3.8 million Burundians are eligible to vote.

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Iganga-Former Forum for Democratic Change leader  and currently campaigning to become flag bearer of the party in the 2016, general elections Dr. Kizza Besigye has told a rally of his supporters in Iganga never to lose hope as change for the top leadership of the country is approaching.

Dr. Besigye and his predecessor in the FDC, Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu are currently on campaigns across the country for their internal elections.

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Moyo-Obongi County Member of Parliament and opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) stalwart Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, has hailed President Yoweri Museveni for ‘his good leadership and work that has greatly developed the country’.

“Although I belong to the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, I am impressed and always supportive of the President’s views on national development as well as his Pan-African agenda.” Fungaroo said.

Adding “It does not matter whether I am from FDC but your views on Pan-Africanism are unquestionable and I have liked them since my secondary days at St. Mary’s College Kisubi and I am also fully supportive of your government programmes because I never mix politics with development,” Fungaroo, who was speaking at a rally addressed by the President, said.

During his address, President Museveni emphasized the teaching of production skills, saying that would help fight poverty and unemployment in Uganda especially among the youth.

“Young people need skills to be able to be employed or to employ themselves, you need to acquire practical skills such as computer skills, carpentry, pottery, metal works, motor mechanics, weaving and farming skills and engage in production and employ yourselves and get rid of unemployment and poverty” he said.

The President, who is on a four-day wealth creation campaign in West Nile and Northern region, said his mobilization campaign aims at ensuring that each household has an income generation activity.

The President noted that government has endeavored to avail infrastructure like roads, electricity, ICT and services in education, and health, which Ugandans should utilize to raise income and better their living.

“The country will not realize meaningful development if people don’t exploit these development initiatives to improve their incomes. It is improved income at each individual household level that can quickly translate and lead to national growth and transformation,” he said.

He appealed to Ugandans to engage in modern agro production that is profit oriented and produce to guarantee food and income security noting that modern life demands go beyond food thus the need to produce for the market.

The President urged Ugandans to safeguard the prevailing peace and security in the country saying that was fundamental for development.

“I am happy that there is peace in the entire country which all of you contributed to, please safeguard it because with peace the rest of the work will be made easy” he noted.

The President also cautioned people about the deadly Hepatitis B, saying the disease is sexually transmitted and can be avoided if people exercised sexual discipline and avoided promiscuity. He encouraged people to go for medical tests, get vaccinated against the virus and revealed that the government had allocated Shs5billion towards the fight against Hepatitis B in the 11 districts of Uganda that have been hit hard by the disease including the West Nile districts of Yumbe, Adjumani, Moyo and Arua.

Earlier the President commissioned the newly built Riyadh Mosque of the Obongi Muslim community and pledged Shs50million shillings towards its completion.

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Kampala-The Democratic Alliance (TDA) may have to contend with the pressures of a troubled political terrain after opposition politician Norbert Mao warned members of the pressure group against hobnobbing with embattled politician, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago.

According to Mao, who is the Democratic Party President, the TDA should not allow Lukwago, the leader of a DP splinter group into the alliance.

Mr Mao claimed the alliance risked collapse if Lukwago, whose intentions are allegedly to destroy the DP, was allowed to associate with the pressure group.

Under the guise of a ‘delegates conference’, yesterday Lukwago in the company of MPs Mathias Mpuuga (Masaka Municipality), Latif Ssebagala (Kawempe North) and Richard Ssebuliba Mutumba (Kawempe South) convened a meeting at Bativa Hotel, where they distanced themselves from all the activities of the Mao faction of DP, including the party Delegates Conference slated for Thursday, July 23.

“The agenda of this splinter group may be the deal breaker of the TDA; if the TDA allow the splinter DP into the alliance, DP will move out of it,” Mao told journalists at the party headquarters today.

Mr. Mao revealed that the reconciliation talks had failed to bear fruit because those against his leadership objected to his ideas.

“I’m tired of arguing with idiots, you cannot reason with unreasonable people,” Mao said adding: “He (Lukwago) does not know what he wants and from now on we are going to handle him with an iron fist.”

Unleashing a tinge of sarcasm, the DP leader said that the Lord Mayor did not have the knowledge and experience to rule the 30 million Ugandans because he was impeached by (only) thirty Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) councilors.

Mao also noted that for one to stand as a candidate in TDA, he or she has to be endorsed by his faction of the party.

A longtime DP activist, Lukwago is not new to controversy, something that has occasionally put him on a collision course with the mainstream DP. In 2010, Lukwago broke ranks with the mainstream DP and joined a pressure group called Suubi, which he used as a vehicle to be elected the Lord Mayor in 2011.

But likening Lukwago’s current position to that of the former DP presidential aspirant Al Hajji Nasser Ntege Ssebagala, Mao noted it was under Lukwago’s counsel as the party lawyer that the former city mayor was kicked out of the party.

Mao said that Lukwago had advised that since Sebaggala had contested as an Independent in the 2010 elections, he was no longer a party member.

“That advice has caught up with him,” Mao stressed and warned Lukwago’s sympathizers to desist from supporting him since it would only give President Yoweri Museveni an edge in the 2016 elections.

And, speaking about the elections and formation of the ‘new party’, Mr. Mao pointed out that the Bativa meeting was not a Delegates Conference (DC), and that the recommendations made there were not binding. “The delegates have the intelligence to choose who their leaders should be, the DP Constitution is non-negotiable,” Mao said and refuted claims that the DC had been cancelled.

“There’s no compromise on the Delegates Conference, it will be held on the set date,” he said and added that this year’s DC will host 1723 delegates, 1240 men and 483 women.

“All these are genuine members of DP, not boda bodariders picked from Arua Park,” he charged.

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