Stop fighting for government jobs, create your own - Museveni
Fare-thee-well. President Museveni (right) pays his last respect after laying a wreath on the casket containing the remains of the late Anania Akera at Along Village in Omoro District. PHOTO BY TOBBIAS JOLLY OWINY
What you need to know:
- By 1949, Akera had readily bought tractors and had more than 700 employees on his Lakwatomer farm. The workers came from as far as DR Congo and South Sudan.
President Museveni has praised the late Anania Akera as a man whose qualities and roles significantly shaped Uganda’s education and agriculture paradigm.
In his speech to the mourners during the burial of a celebrated farmer, teacher and politician at his home in Along Village, Bobi Sub-county, Omoro District on Saturday, Mr Museveni challenged Ugandans to emulate the deceased and focus on creating their own jobs instead of fighting for the few slots available in government.
“In him, we have really good examples to go by. He left a government job and started farming. Today, people are busy fighting for the limited government jobs yet they know that the private sector is more important than government jobs,” President Museveni said.
He said he had learnt that by the end of World War II, Akera abandoned his job as a teacher and embarked on farming after he calculated he could do farming to make more money and empower his people.
“And that is exactly the message I was giving the nation (structures) during my nationwide campaign on wealth creation (to focus on the informal sector) and create wealth,” he added.
By 1949, Akera had readily bought tractors and had more than 700 employees on his Lakwatomer farm. The workers came from as far as DR Congo and South Sudan.
“I passed through here in 1968 when I was still a university student and I saw those tobacco kilns and plantations. He was so hardworking and great. These are examples we need to follow,” he said.
Mr Museveni also lauded the deceased for his charismatic qualities that later influenced the politics and economics of the region.
“I cannot miss to come and give testimony of what I have seen and known about him. I want to salute these qualities of him, I know we shall all die but the legacy we live behind should be positive enough for people to remember us just like we remember him today,” the President told mourners.
He added: “When we came, we said we have got a medicine for the chaos (insurgency that existed at the time) and some elders were not interested but Mzee (Akera) convinced and encouraged them to give us the young blood to get into leadership.”
At the late’s home, two rusty tractors were grounded in front of the main building on his compound. They remind a first time visitor that the home was once owned by an agriculturalist.
Indeed, his advocacy for the development of agriculture in the community and the country in the past earned him praises.
Bishop Baker Ochola testified before mourners that Akera worked so hard until he achieved all he wanted in life.
About the late Akera
Anania Akera breathed his last at Gulu Regional Referral Hospital on August 16 due to multiple organ failure.
The eighth child of Rwot Andrea Olal and Ejang Yokomoi of Bobi Paidwe, was born on September 22, 1914.
The 105-years-old Akera became a celebrated teacher and politician later in life with unsurpassed wealth as a farmer.
