By Aggrey Baba
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has asked Ugandans to vote for leaders who support and follow up on government programmes, saying that is the only way people can benefit from development.
While visiting Kasanje Town Council in Wakiso, Museveni said many communities miss out because they elect opposition leaders who don’t lobby or follow up on government support.
Museveni made the remarks during a recent visit to Mabamba Farmhouse and Training Centre, a successful project run by Jackie Atuhaire, a former MP for Sheema District. Her farm is one of the best examples of how government programmes like the PDM can help people grow their income.
Atuhaire reportedly started her farm on only two acres, but it has now expanded to seven acres, growing bananas, vegetables, keeping cows, poultry, pigs, and doing fish farming. Her farm also trains other farmers and employs 25 people, and reportedly earns UGV 200 million every year from the farm.
Her fish section alone brings in about UGX 60 million in profit, and her poultry unit produces 1,000 broiler chickens for sale each month.
Museveni praised her for adding value to her work by starting to make her own animal and fish feeds, saying that this kind of step is not just farming, but a form of light manufacturing, which brings more money.
He promised to help her set up a feed mill and gave her UGX12 million to improve her cows. Atuhaire also asked for help with electricity, water, and more fish ponds to which, in response, Museveni directed the Ministry of Agriculture to support her with those needs.
The President encouraged people in Wakiso to continue supporting the NRM, saying this is how government services like PDM can continue and expand, reminding them that through PDM, each parish gets money to support 100 households, giving UGX million to each family to start income-generating projects, having put UGX trillion into the programme across the country so far.
Museveni also said that the road from Naama to Kasanje will soon be tarmacked, which will make it easier for farmers to access markets.
