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BY RICHARD DRASIMAKU
TEREGO: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2025
When he employed the conversational question and answer campaign stamina in Terego in 2016, President Yoweri Museveni received the majority votes in the ultimate elections. That time the president backed up the Q and A with promise of delivering hand hoes to the predominantly peasant community.
On Thursday, Museveni turned to the same tactic but this time without the promise of hoes and still received a rousing approval from a crowd that filled the sports stadium in Leju town council to the full.
“I am going to start with a question,” Museveni said as he began his point number three of the address to the people.
“When there is tarmac road, a stadium like this one; when there are schools or hospitals, at night do you sleep on the tarmac? do you sleep in the school or the hospital?” asked President Museveni.
“No!” the crowd roared back in answer. “so, where do you sleep,” Museveni asked again. “In our houses,” they shouted.
“Now if you sleep at home, the poverty that you leave in the morning when you go out will be waiting for you when you return and it will say welcome home,” he said, attracting deafening laughter.
Museveni then clarified that this is the reason he has been saying since 1960’s that let Ugandans create their own wealth. He stressed that some people out of ignorance confuse wealth with development.
Then he asked the crowd whether they have heard of Bayayi’s who stay in the ghettos in Kampala.
When the crowd responded in the affirmative, Museveni reposted: “You can have development but you live in poverty nearby. Kampala has got some of the tallest buildings in the country, hotels and tarmacked roads but those Bayayis are very poor near all those developments.”
“That is why we have been saying that let us create wealth because development is ours but wealth is personal and private,” added Museveni.
The president reported that some of the people who have listened to him, such as the rural dwellers of the cattle corridor in Western and South-western Uganda have already moved out of poverty.
He gave the example of one Matovu whom he said never went to school but is milking 900 litres from cows every day, thereby getting sh21m in sales of milk monthly and sh250m annually just because he listened to his enlightening message in 1960s and put it to practice.
Museveni reminded the Terego people that his government has since 1986 rolled out several poverty eradication programs, starting with Etandikwa, the National Agricultural Advisory services (NAADS), the Operation Wealth Creation, the Parish Development Model, the Emyooga, the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Fund, the Youth fund among others.
“All these are to help you get out of poverty and I am the one who has been begging you to get out of poverty,” Museveni pointed out.
Speaking of the Parish Development Model, Museveni asked for testimonies from Beneficiaries who have felt an improvement in their living conditions after benefiting from the program.
Ronald Adaku, a resident, promptly answered in the affirmative. Adaku said he received sh1m from PDM and invested it in fish farming. He sold the fingerlings at sh2.5m, whereupon, he ploughed back sh1m into the farm and began his residential house construction with the balance.
However, the fish farming project suffers from the effects of climate change where long dry-spells leave the pond struggling to hold water.
Responding to Adaku’s testimony Museveni said: “thank you but poverty at home is bad.”
He assured the people that the government will continue with the implementation of PDM. Terego district has received a cumulative total of sh12,935,064,336 under PDM and supported 13,004 households according to official district data.
When he posed the next question, “are you getting that money,” Museveni received more no! in response than yes! from the crowd and the no! took the day with Museveni ordering the State House Comptroller to open record book to register complaints. He called this directive a war on these thieves.
Museveni reiterated that the government will continue to give sh100m per parish annually plus sh15m for leaders under PDM. He said another fund will be created for religious and cultural leaders and university graduates who fail to get jobs after two years to ensure that no one gets left behind.
“Wealth creation is not a football match where some people are spectators. In wealth creation, everbody must be a player,” Museveni emphasized.
President Museveni committed himself to tarmac the Manibe-Wandi-Yumbe road to ensure that Terego district is connected to the national road network. He said the Atyak-Adjumani-Moyo-Yumbe-Koboko road was aldersy being worked upon and the Panyimur-Pakwach-Wadelai-Rhino-Camp road will be tarmacked as well as the Nebbi-Goli, Paidha-War-Vurra road to improve road connectivity in the West Nile sub-region.
In health sector, Museveni said he will construct a general hospital in Terego district in the next government and ensure that all sub counties have a health center III and all parishes have a primary school.
He highlighted the role of the Presidential skilling hubs in Zombo and Adjumani district where 80 school dropouts in Terego have so far trained in different life skills.
The presidency has since created a savings and credit cooperative organization for the graduates from the zonal skilling hubs country wide and capitalized them with sh50b seed fund.
However, targeted beneficiaries reported that they are awaiting utilization guidelines from the State House to guide on how they can access and use the funds.
Museveni again warned school administrators to stop charging extra fees on children in the universal primary education and universal secondary education schools.
“We are doing all these to ensure that we have a modern country. So, I ask the people of Terego to support the NRM,” he said to a thunderous Yes!
Very happy of the host to my dear President in Terego