By Aggrey Baba
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged leaders in Wakiso District to get better organised at the local level and focus on improving people’s lives through wealth creation, job opportunities, and better service delivery.
Speaking at the Wakiso District Headquarters during his fourth day of assessing the Parish Development Model (PDM) in the area, the President encouraged leaders to work closely with communities, especially at the parish level, saying that every leader should know how many families are in their area so they can plan well and ensure everyone benefits from government programmes.
“Leaders are like doctors. You need to first understand people’s problems before offering solutions,” the President said.
He also shared his personal experience from the 1960s, where he focused on building wealth through farming in Rwakitura before roads and electricity reached the area, explaining that once wealth is created, infrastructure usually follows.
The President highlighted peace, development, wealth creation, jobs, and services, as the five key areas leaders should focus on, stressing that commercial farming, industries, and services are the best ways to create wealth, which then leads to jobs, especially for the youth. “If there’s no wealth, there are no jobs,” he said, urging leaders to find out how many families in their areas are involved in commercial farming.
President Museveni also repeated his call to fight corruption and encouraged leaders to look for market opportunities for locally produced goods.
Hon. Rosemary Seninde, the NRM Director for Mobilization, who represented the party’s Secretary General, said support for the NRM has increased since the 2021 elections, while Hon. Moses Mayanja, the former NRM flag bearer for Wakiso District, gave a detailed update on the district’s progress and remaining challenges.
He highlighted the success of the Emyooga programme, which supports small business groups, saying that since 2021, 467 Emyooga groups in Wakiso have received over UGX 10.2 billion shillings in startup funds. These groups have mobilised UGX 2.7 billion in member savings and given out UGX 11.3 billion in loans, helping mainly women and youth grow small businesses, improve products, and access new markets.
However, Mayanja noted that Wakiso’s growing population (now about 4.1 million) is putting pressure on government programmes. Of the roughly 333,000 households eligible under the PDM, only around 2,262 have benefited so far.
He asked the government to consider increasing PDM funding per parish beyond the current UGX 3.1 billion shillings so more families can benefit. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
