By Simon Turibamwe
In a shocking U-turn, President Museveni has regretted permitting creation of so many new districts in Uganda and he now says he is sick and tired of such demands from the people he leads. Museveni opened up and shared his dilemma Friday morning at Kyankwanzi where he was addressing hundreds of MPs from his ruling NRM party. Museveni shocked the MPs who stared at him with smiles so that he can mention splitting of districts in their favor when he mentioned that majority people asking for new districts are not aiming to serve the people but because they are looking for jobs. “You will see s certain lady pushing for a new district when her only intention is to become a district Woman Member of Parliament and this will not help Ugandans,” Museveni shockingly said. He said that instead of funding these district he will channel the funding to organized groups especially those involved in manufacturing whom he feels have been neglected for a long time. He said that if money is injected in youths, women, industrialists like carpentry groups and crafts men Uganda will realize its dream for a middle class country in a shorter time than funding districts which have failed to plan and raise house hold income. Museveni who has been the champion of splitting villages into districts told the NRM MPs that he has found out that money funding the districts is not felt on ground but the money given to organized groups is more important and crucial in fighting poverty. He revealed that he has learnt a lesson from the groups from Kansanga where he injected Shs260m and has done wonders in a short time. He asked the MPs to go back to their villages right away from parish level and mobilize people to form groups for easy management. He said that organizing people from parish level will help the country in planning because at parish a person is able to how many people are in his village because they know each other. When Museveni captured Power in 1986 Uganda had only 34 districts and presently there are 133 districts and the demand for more is still high. Museveni’s statement comes at a time when district leaders from Kigezi and Ankole petitioned the ministry of local government to halt creation of new districts saying that they have affected district funding and also crippling service delivery. Museveni said that today Uganda has only four options to develop which among others said include Commercial Agriculture that also covers Agro Industry, Manufacturing and industrialization, Minerals and Business sourcing where he referred that people at village level will not from district releases to startup ventures but can gain from their own and direct funding.
