VP Alupo starts nationwide poverty alleviation tours in Gulu
Vice President (VP) Jessica Alupo speaks to Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) chief, Gen Caleb Akandwanaho a.k.a Salim Saleh on August 5.
What you need to know:
- She kicked off with a courtesy call in Gulu, meeting the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) chief, Gen Caleb Akandwanaho also known as Salim Saleh.
Vice President Jessica Alupo Thursday started tours around the country, aimed at ascertaining how Ugandans can ascend to the Middle Income Status.
She kicked off with a courtesy call in Gulu City, meeting the Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) chief, Gen Caleb Akandwanaho (a.k.a Salim Saleh at the Gulu Military Barracks.
She later moved with Gen Saleh to the Late Maj Gen Julius Oketta’s commercial farm run jointly by his wife Stella Oketta and Indian investors led by Jayesh Patel.
While at the Terra farm in Layima Sub-county, Amuru District, Ms Alupo said: “We need to embrace grassroots farmers, at all stages of social-economic transformation.”
She also pledged to work with all sectors, and leaders across the country, to fulfill the assignment given to Cabinet by President Museveni- ‘‘to move the country into the Middle Income Status.’’
VP Alupo at the farm on August 5.
The recent Uganda National Household Survey Report 2019/2020, estimates an increase in the number of Poor People from 8million to 8.3 million, with the Number of Households in the Subsistence Economy at 39%, an increase from 3.3 million to 3.5 million in Uganda’s 41milion people population.
Ms Alupo vowed to follow up on Mr Museveni’s several unfulfilled pledges to the people of Amuru District.
The Minister of State in the VP’s office, Diana Mutasingwa explained that commercial farming in northern Uganda, “Is a gold mine for future development of the area.”
According to Gen Saleh, OWC initiatives of connecting farmers with government programs, will benefit communities and enhance sustainable development.
Terra Farms Chief Executive Officer, Jayesh Patel while flanked by the landlord, Ms Oketta, said its ‘‘operations within one year have created permanent jobs,’’ adding that ‘‘they have 8,000 acres of land of which 3,000 are under cultivation and with similar farms in Kenya.’’
Patel further pledged to build a hospital and a school on the farm.
Amuru LC5 Chairman, Michael Lakony said ‘‘the district is the wealthiest in terms of arable cultivation land of about 4,851 square miles.’’
