Museveni To MPs: Focus On Homestead Incomes For Development
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni addressed Parliament on August 29, 2024, during a regional sitting at Kaunda Grounds, Gulu City, urging Members of Parliament to prioritize mobilizing Ugandans towards wealth creation initiatives.
He emphasized the importance of focusing on homestead incomes for development, stating, “Since the 1960s, I’ve emphasized that if you want people to develop, start with homestead incomes.”
Museveni questioned the effectiveness of investing in infrastructure without a corresponding increase in economic activity, citing the example of the road from Gulu to Kampala. He urged MPs to educate their constituents on the benefits of the four-acre model of farming, which, he said, could create wealth and jobs.
The President elaborated on the seven activities that can be carried out on four acres or less, including coffee, fruits, pasture for dairy, food crops, poultry, piggery, and fish farming. He emphasized that even on a small scale, this model can generate millions of shillings.
Museveni also discussed his recent directive to remove the 18% tax on locally produced starch and impose high import duties on imported starch.
He called on MPs to support his stance on free education in government schools, stating, “advocate for free education in government schools, but others are pushing for fees. Many children are on the streets because they cannot afford school. If you care about your people, support my position on free education. If not, stay silent and let the children suffer.”
Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, informed the President that the session in Gulu was focused on the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing the West Nile, Acholi, Lango, and Karamoja sub-regions in the greater Northern region.
She defended the regional sittings, stating that they are legally and procedurally grounded in the Constitution and Parliament’s rules of procedure.
“The embracement of the regional sittings is in pursuit of the legislative vision of a transformed, independent, and people-centered parliament,” Anita told Museveni
She added, “…contrary to what the critics are raising that the regional sittings of Parliament are costing us a lot, that is not true. The Parliament sitting is legally and procedurally grounded in Article 95 (2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda of 1995, and rule 17 of the rules of procedure of Parliament which empowers the speaker to convene Parliament at such a place and time through a proclamation.”
She further explained, “the regional sittings will exhaustively deliberate upon the most urgent matters that are intricate to the growth, and development of a particular host area and for this case, the Northern area.”
She informed the president that the house, on the first day, “applauded your leadership in pacifying, unification, and development in Northern region,” she recounted, “20 years back, this region was not what it is today [in terms of] the security that you brought to this region”
She added, “This region has witnessed a remarkable transformation in the urban infrastructural growth, especially under the Municipality Infrastructural Development [USMD], the establishment of the public University in Gulu, Lira, and Arua, the health sector infrastructural growth, and the progressive growth of the private sector.”
She also applauded Museveni for elevating “three municipalities into cities notably the Gulu City, Lira City, and Arua City. This elevation status has created immense opportunities for the region, which if properly harnessed will bolster the development of this area.”
During the session, Parliament paid tribute to Museveni for his visionary leadership, which, they said enabled the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) to secure peace and security in Acholi, Lango, West Nile, and Karamoja.
Kazo MP, Dan Kimosho (NRM), credited the UPDF, under Museveni’s leadership, with ending the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict in Northern Uganda.