President Museveni has hailed the people of Rukiga District for conserving the Rushebye-Kanyabaha wetland and promised to establish an irrigation scheme in it to boost farming in the adjacent hills.
‘I want to thank the people of Rukiga District for conserving this wetland along the Muhanga-Rwamucucu Road and I will begin a big irrigation project in this wetland to boost farming in the adjacent hills and put it in the hands of the government for proper implementation. Sometime back, I supported one man called Rutaro to run an irrigation project in this wetland but he later shifted to Kafunjo area in Ntungamo District,’ Mr Museveni said while addressing National Resistance Movement (NRM) party supporters in Rukiga District at Rushebeya playground in Mparo Town Council yesterday.
The President also emphasised the importance of irrigation in farming. He played a video of banana production in Bushenyi District run by one Dr Muranga, where 53 tonnes of matooke are harvested from one hectares per year while the ordinary farmers operating in the neighbourhood harvest only five tonnes of matooke per year from the same land size.
He also asked the NRM party supporters to remind the NRM party flag bearers to ‘listen to our message on prioritised development programmes’. He added that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers have never gone on strike for living in grass-thatched houses because they know that buying guns to fight the enemy is more important.
President Museveni also promised to employ 50,000 teachers so that the excuse of school administrators to charge extra fees in government schools claiming that they want to hire private teachers is no more. He also promised to add more money in the Parish Development Model so that it can benefit many Ugandans. He encouraged Ugandans to invest in entrepreneurship for wealth and job creation.
‘I want to thank God for loving the NRM government because he denied the colonialists the chance to discover our oil in the Albertine region and he gave the opportunity to the NRM government to discover it and processing it will begin next year. We shall use the oil money to boost development in our country. Supporting the NRM government is the best way,’ President Museveni said.
The Rukiga District NRM party chairman, Mr Frank Besigye Kyerere, asked the people of Kigezi Sub-region to support Mr Museveni’s presidential bid so that he can win with more than 90 percent of the votes. ‘If it was not the NRM government, Rukiga District may not have been carved out of Kabale District.
As we pledge total support in the forthcoming presidential elections, Rukiga does not have a district hospital, Rushebeya playground is being threatened to be grabbed by unknown people. The promise of tarmacking Muhanga-Kisiizi and Muhanga-Kamwezi road has not been achieved,’ Mr Kyerere said. Former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda said the President’s dedication and visionary leadership has promoted the economic growth in the country.