Museveni preaches wealth creation in Masaka

President Museveni yesterday kicked off his Greater Masaka tour by holding a meeting with area leaders across the political spectrum and visiting model farmers as he preached his wealth creation gospel.

 The President, who is on a three-day tour, asked residents to take advantage of the prevailing peace in the country and fight poverty through commercial agriculture.

 Mr Museveni also visited Bukoto Central Youth Link Coffee Factory located in Kamuzinda Village, Kyanamukaka Sub-county in Masaka District, where he urged farmers to add value to their output.

  “Coffee can be roasted, ground, packed well, add milk to it and any other good spice then sold slightly higher than the current price,” he said.

 The President promised to continue supporting coffee farmers and avail them with among others; a coffee roasting machine, and a coffee grinding machine; all costing Shs150million.

 Mr Museveni’s tour is part of  his   campaign to  popularise the government wealth creation agenda through poverty alleviation programmes such as Emyooga and the Parish Development Model (PDM).

 In the company of his former VP Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi and other local leaders, the President visited model farmers in Kikunyu Village, Kyotera District, as well as Kyesiiga and Kamuzinda in Masaka District.

Farmers narrated the hardships they encounter whilst cultivating their produce and transporting them to the market.

 The President pledged to give farmers all the necessary support, including a truck worth Shs200m, a coffee   roasting and crushing machine (Shs50m) and another Shs50m for meeting the operational costs.

 Mr Museveni commended coffee farmers in the Greater Masaka as Buganda as a whole for transforming their lives through embracing government development programmes such as Uganda Coffee Development Association (UCDA) and Operation Wealth Creation (OWC).

 The President pledged more direct support to the farmers through OWC and his special wealth empowerment programme managed by senior presidential adviser Hadijah Uzeiye Namyalo.

 However, to connect to Kabira, Kyesiiga and Kyanamukkaka, the President used a chopper and avoided using the potholed Masaka –Kyotera-Mutukula road to the chagrin of a section of Opposition leaders in the area, who boycotted the meeting.

 “He [President] could have moved around by road to know what we go through on the bad road rather than using an helicopter,” Mr John Bosco Sansa, a councillor representing Kabira Sub County in Kyotera District Council.  Mr Museveni explained that his government has deliberately prioritised infrastructure development and promised that all roads, which are currently in a sorry state, will soon be fixed.

On  damaged bridge

On the damaged River Katonga Bridge, Mr Museveni said: “We’re still investigating the real cause so that we address it from its roots. I have learnt that the problem sparked from Bugomola area in Kalungu District. But with a forecasting government and leadership, we had already worked on Mpigi-Gomba-Sembabule -Villa Maria Road and there is also a vessel linking Entebbe to Masaka. These two alternative routes have maintained continuous movement of people and goods.”

 The President, on account of poor service delivery, unfulfilled pledges, youth unemployment, poverty and rampant land evictions, in 2021 lost the Buganda vote for the first time to his main challenger Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party. Mr Museveni got 838,858 votes against Mr Kyagulanyi’s 1,453,535.