KAMPALA.President Museveni who is also the ruling Nationa Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential candidate has told voters in Terego District , West Nile that it is personal wealth that can get them out of poverty ,not good roads .
He said whereas development is a responsibility of government , it will not solve hold house poverty.
“Kampala has got a lot of development in form of hotels and tarmac roads among other but nearby is poverty in some of the homes. That’s why from the 1960s we have been telling people that get out of poverty as development is ours. This stadium here is development and is ours but poverty is personal and private. Do you sleep on the road or stadium or health facility,” Museveni said.
“Tarmac roads don’t chase poverty. Even if you have a tarmac road, when you go back home, poverty will welcome you and say, I am still here. “
President Museveni was on Thursday addressing a campaign rally at Leju Stadium in Terego district, West Nile.
He said whereas government will work on ensuring development in form of roads, schools, health facilities and electricity among others, this will not chase away poverty.
He said while he started preaching the message of wealth creation in the 1960s, when the NRM came to power, it introduced programs like Entandikwa, Operation Wealth Creation, Youth Fund, Emyooga, Women Fund and GROW that were meant to get people out of poverty but said many didn’t embrace them.
“All that is to help you get out of poverty but I am the one who is always begging you to get out of poverty. Therefore, yes development, stadiums, tarmac roads, schools are welcome but poverty in the home is bad.”
Museveni said by introducing the Parish Development Model, government aims to ensure everyone joins the money economy to create wealth for themselves.
Government has so far sent shs12.95 billion for the Parish Development Model programme, benefitting 13,004 out of the 64,876 households in the 42 parishes that Terego District has.
On the other side, government has also disbursed shs1.2 billion to 34 Emyooga saccos with 19,553 members in the two constituencies which make up the district.
Museveni said the shs100 million sent to every parish as part of PDM is meant to ensure that every household uses it to invest in agriculture and other small ventures from which they can earn money.
“When I heard there were bank charges levied , I stopped and government will pay the charges but the borrower must get shs1 million.”
Development
Museveni said government was going to tarmac the road from Manibe to Yumbe, then from Atiak- Adjumani- Laropi-Yumbe to Koboko.
He said by tarmacking the Manibe to Yumbe road, Terego will have been linked to the national road network in Yumbe.
Museveni said he was now happy that Terego, a district created four years ago is now connected to the national electricity grid.
“When coming to West Nile my helicopter must land carefully or it might hit powerlines. Previously I had to be careful to avoid the trees but now there are power lines everywhere.”
On schools, he said Terego district’s 42 parishes have 73 government primary schools, with 36 parishes having at least one school.
He said only six parishes don’t have primary schools ,but said these will get in the next term.
On government secondary schools, he said the district’s seven sub-counties have eight schools, with six sub counties hosting at least one school.
Healthcare
Museveni said whereas the district has one health centre IV, five health centre IIIs and only two sub counties without a health centre III or IV, in the next term, government is going to build a district hospital.