By Mulengera Reporters
National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) leader Joseph Kiiza Kabuleta has advised the people of Tooro sub region to wake up, demand better services and stop voting for a government he says doesn’t care about them.
Speaking at NEED’s office in Bugolobi on Monday, Kabuleta argued that Tooro was so endowed that it was unacceptable for its people to be wallowing in poverty. Kabuleta, also a 2021 presidential candidate, spoke after an activist from Tooro had painted a picture of how she thinks the government has neglected Tooro even when the subregion votes for Museveni and his NRM party.
Sylivia Kihunde, an activist, accountant by profession, and a former civil servant who contested for Fort Portal City Woman MP in the 2021 parliamentary elections, said that it was not true that everything in Tooro, part of Western Uganda, was as rosy as some people assume.
Describing herself as one of the Ugandans targeted for their bold activism, Kihunde argued that those in power under the NRM government liberated themselves and their families, forgetting millions of Ugandans. She said there was stinking poverty, social injustice, lack of infrastructure, corruption, lack of government support and high levels of unemployment in Tooro, which comprises seven districts: Kabarole, Hoima, Kyegegwa, Kyenjojo, Bunyangabu, Kamwenge and Kitagwenda.
Kihunde noted that while Tooro was gifted by nature – with good soils, favorable climate, and friendly people, it was absurd that the people have remained in poverty. She also argued that even when one of the sub region’s major towns, Fort Portal, was handed a tourism city status, the elevation was more or less some sort of ‘byoya bya nswa.’ “When people are given a city, they get excited that ‘Tooro has a city.’ But what are we benefiting from the city? They are not benefiting [in any way],” added Kihunde.
She said that while Tooro used to have an airfield located in Fort Portal, the field is currently dysfunctional and occupied by soldiers as a military barracks. “So, when you give us a tourism city status but our airfield is non-functional, is it going to be a reality?” She also argued that government should have established an institute to train tour guides and hotel management. “The tourists who are coming are getting frustrated and they are not referring more tourists to come. The tourist guides that are taking them around are not nationally and internationally trained to handle tourists. So when tourists come, they are like on their own,” she claimed.
She further complained that big hotels in Fort Portal City were hiring top managers from Kenya and waitresses and waiters from other regions of the country instead of giving jobs to Tooro’s sons and daughters.
Kihunde claimed that even when the resource-rich sub region overwhelmingly for Museveni’s NRM, service delivery is still wanting. She also complained about poor roads which are dusty in the dry season and muddy when it rains. For roads, Kihunde said that the Saaka-Harugongo-Kiijura Road, which connects Mountains of the Moon University, a limestone quarry feeding Hima Cement Ltd, and goes to tea plantations of Kiijura, has remained impassable.
She further accused Museveni of failing to fulfil his pledges to the region. For example, Kihunde noted, while government promised to construct a 30,000 regional stadium in Buhinga, this pledge seems already forgotten, with only a perimeter wall in place. It should be remembered that the stadium was supposed to be built by the UPDF Engineering Brigade, who didn’t go through a procurement process, at a cost of Shs6bn. In Kihunde’s view, the delayed construction has cost Tooro chances to host regional, national and international games, employment opportunities and revenue which it would have otherwise generated.
“The president has taken us, in Tooro, for granted. He is forever making and breaking promises and that has made us lose respect for him. We are disgruntled and this disappointment has [turned] into anger. People in the Tooro sub region are feeling sad, they are rejected, and they feel worthless and unimportant. What he does is to ensure that we remain poor and he keeps in power,” alleged Kihunde.
The activist from Tooro also complained that while the sub region used to have a government stock farm in Bunyangabu District, that sat on 736 acres, and helped in breeding to support livestock productivity, the farm is currently bushy, the buildings dilapidated, the land idle and that the farm is mismanaged. She also claimed that the farm has been taken over by powerful private individuals.
She called on the people not to be comfortable in poverty but to demand for services and hold their leaders accountable.
On his part, Kabuleta was concerned that while the people of Tooro complain about lack of services, they have continued to vote for Museveni and his NRM government, in some cases giving him more votes than the districts in the president’s home sub region. He wondered when they will stop complaining and start acting and speaking through the power of their vote.
Kabuleta also argued that the regime would not fix the challenges in the tourism sector because it had little to no control over the industry. Praising Tooro’s endowment with physical features such as crater lakes, and perfect weather, Kabuleta was concerned that the regime had failed to solve the issue of air transport from Entebbe International Airport to tourist destinations such those in Tooro. Hoping to become Uganda’s president one day, Kabuleta promised to develop the country’s airfields to make it easier for tourists who don’t want to use road transport, due to the risk of accidents and time constraints, to travel across Uganda. A pastor and former sports journalist, Kabuleta argued that it was easier to make money from tourism provided government fixed the bottlenecks such as transport issues.
He was also concerned that Museveni had continued to award big infrastructure contracts such as the one for the Buhinga Stadium to the UPDF Engineering Brigade that the politician from Bunyoro thinks is not efficient and has also failed to deliver on a number of projects.
Kabuleta was also concerned that the Batooro who grow tea have continued to be cheated, with a kilo of tea going for less than Shs500 in Tooro and the same sold for about Shs4700 in Mombasa – leaving the Batooro crying of poverty and clamoring for Parish Development Model funds. “You just need to be empowered. The Parish Development Model funds were put there to be stolen. It was never meant to many anyone rich. There is nothing that Museveni will ever do to make Ugandans rich. It will never happen,” claimed Kabuleta. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 0200900416 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).