Four times in 16 days in Busoga, what is Museveni’s agenda?

Common visitor. Museveni says decision by Jinja mayor to invite him to the area is an act of wisdom as he has the resources for the region’s projects. Salaamu Musumba notes that it is Busoga which is renewing its allegiance to Museveni and the NRM by inviting him.

• Youth Day celebrations: First he attended the April 19 burial of the late LC3 chairperson of Bulopa Sub-county, Gerald Kibeyo. Mr Museveni was not personally known to Mr Kibeyo.
  The only reason that was given by Kamuli Resident District Commissioner, Mr Jackson Asiimwe, was that Museveni had deemed it fit to attend the burial of the man who was meant to be his guest at his country home in Rwakitura.
  The following day, Museveni returned to the region, this time heading to Kaliro where he launched the Busoga Youth Forum and gave the youth a sack containing Shs250 million, a lorry, an omnibus and another Shs15 million.
• Tourism : On May 4, the President was back in Jinja where he launched two initiatives; the “Relay from Jinja to Skellef tea, Sweden” and “Paint the City Bright” campaigns aimed at marketing Jinja as a tourist destination.
• Vaccination campaign: On April 29, Mr Museveni was back in Iganga District where he presided over the launch of the Pneumococcal vaccine.

So while he could have given the youth a sack of money and vehicles to help them start up income generating activities, Kasigwa, says, his interest is really in consolidating his hold on the 549,679 votes that he garnered from a region that has 1,023,287 registered voters and ensuring that no challenge comes from there.

Poor region

However, despite the visits and handouts, questions about his will to make strategic interventions to help change Busoga’s economy abound. “If you compared us to Northern Uganda you would wonder who is coming out of war. Busoga remains an enclave of poverty yet we have not been at war, neither have we suffered any natural disaster. The question is why when we have been doing everything (voting) right,” Musumba says.

The district boss adds that bad government policies have caused unprecedented poverty and made begging the biggest occupation, a position Lands and Urban Development Minister, Daudi Migereko, who is also the MP for Butembe County, disagrees with.

Busoga, he says, has excellent infrastructure – good schools, roads and over 106 health centres and continues to attract major investments especially in tourism. Migereko prefers to ignore the fact that industries like East African Steel Corporation, Printpak, Chillington Tool Company, and Papco Industries have closed shop or those like Engaano and Bread Limited are running way below installed production capacity.

He points at Kakira Sugar Works which is currently undergoing a $68 million expansion which will see power generation increase from 22 to 52 megawatts and sugar production from 140,000 to 180,000 tonnes.

Migereko says food production, just like the number of industries, has increased.
Three new fish processing plants opened, edible oil producers increased from 2 to 6; Steel manufacturers from 1 to 5; and wheat processors from 1 to 5.
He says many small scale industries have come up to employ more people than the traditional industries.

But why has this not translated into a better economy or living standards? Indeed a recent Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) report: “Spatial Trends of Poverty and Inequality in Uganda: 2002-2005,” lists Busoga as one of Uganda’s poorest regions.

Musumba says is down to lack of a hub to run the local economy. She says while the handouts to the youth are welcome there is need to look at bigger policy issues, adding that the region is now pushing for affirmative action and special programmes aimed at resuscitating the economy, adding that focus is being placed on a revival of the cooperatives as a driver of production, but will Museveni buy the idea?

While speaking at the Source of the Nile, Museveni described Jinja Mayor, Muhammad Kezaala’s decision to invite him as an act of wisdom. “Kezaala is very wise because he knew that I have resources to support this tourism promotion,” he said.

There can never be a doubt about that. Only those with resources can put Shs250 million in a sack and hand it out to groups of hungry youth, but for most of Busoga, the question is just how much of those resources can be put to serious poverty alleviation programmes and not mere political posturing?

imufumba@ug.nationmedia.com