The NRM presidential candidate, President Yoweri Museveni has said Karamoja region is safe because of the wise decisions taken by the ruling government and these have bored a number of fruits.
Speaking to NRM leaders from the Karamoja districts of Amudat, Napak, Moroto, Nabilatuk and Nakapiripirit at Moroto Boma grounds, the President said government decided to choose decisions that earlier governments had ignored to ensure there is stability all over the country.
“Uganda, and not only Karamoja had become ungovernable .the problem of lack of peace had been ongoing for over 500 years even before the British came. When the British left, the situation even got worse. Whole system collapsed,” the NRM presidential candidate told the party leaders from Karamoja.
“There was instability before, during and after colonization because the biggest problem was defining what was important for society. “
The President said that earlier governments emphasized the politics of identity and that it explains the reason many political parties were formed on the line of either tribes or religion but he said these didn’t last long.
He noted that Ugandan had nine governments in 24 years, a problem he attributed to the politics of identity that could not ensure unity of the entire country.
“If you take that line of identity and you emphasize it, you don’t deal with people unless they are like you. You also don’t appreciate anything done by somebody because he is not part of your group. Therefore, if you have not achieved unity, you can’t form a national government.”
According to President Museveni, when the NRM came into power, they identified the problems affecting the country then and diagnosed them, leading to peace and unity.
“This NRM government moved away from emphasizing identity to interests of people because they are similar. By the time we left the bush, we came with this ideology and introduced it to Ugandans who seemed to like it. That is how we formed the Resistance Councils throughout the country. When it came to elections, which is how we were able to win with majority.”
“We were also able to form a strong army unlike in the past when it was very difficult. We then were able to get peace.”
Emphasizing the peace enjoyed throughout the country for over 30 years for the first time in the history of the country, the President said the country has been able to attract several investors who have not only created jobs but also contributed to taxes.
“These investors who came built factories and created new jobs. All jobs of government including soldiers, police officers, teachers and others, you get 40,000 but factories alone employ 700,000 people. Hotels and other services employ 1.3 million people whereas ICT employs 300,000 people,” he said.
The President noted that it was because of wise decisions that all these were achieved by government.
“The foreigners have helped us solve the problem of jobs , shortages of goods and taxes. By taking this clever way of attracting the private sector, we have been able to solve the big problems.”
President Museveni noted that despite achieving all that, there is still a problem of a large number of people working for the stomach instead of the pockets.
He explained that whereas working for the stomach is good, working for the pockets is also good because it ensures people have some money to use to buy other necessities in life.
The NRM presidential candidate urged the people to engage in commercial farming which also including rearing of cattle and goats for sale as well as growing of fruits.
The President will tomorrow address another group of NRM leaders in Kotido as he winds up his scientific campaign trail in Karamoja region.