For decades, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, commonly known as the father-of-the-nation due to his visionary and transformational leadership, has been working tooth and nail to ensure prosperity for all Ugandans.
Through his message of wealth creation, President Museveni has been able to cause socio-economic transformation across the country.
“For the economy, we don’t need spectators, we need all people to be players. Seeing some people spectating while others are making money, that’s not acceptable,” H.E Museveni said during one of his tours on investment and wealth creation.
When President Museveni went to Kisozi, Gomba in the 1990s, he realised that the residents were “democratically” poor and needed a person who could help them uplift their livelihoods.
“Their only job during that time was to wait for me along the way and beg for money from me. They had no source of income,” the President told Gomba and Sembabule district leaders at his Kisozi farm in Gomba District last month.
“I called the parents here and told them that I don’t want to be neighbours with poor people. We gave them entandikwa in the form of cows, coffee, pigs etc. We moved slowly until when these Nalwangas(Sarah Nalwanga) finished school. I told those of Nalwangas that all households should benefit,” he added.
Now in 2011, President Museveni started donating cows, goats, coffee seedlings, pigs, banana tissues, poultry, money, among other items to households in nine villages in Gomba and Sembabule with the aim of generating incomes to improve their livelihoods. The villages which benefitted include Kirasi, KisoziA, Kisozi B and Kajumiro (all in Gomba) and Obutugu, Lutunku A, Lutunku B, Kasozi and Kikuumadungu (all in Sembabule).
According to the Poverty Alleviation Project Coordinator, Ms. Sarah Nalwanga, President Museveni’s entandikwa scheme has done tremendous work in changing the lives of people in the nine villages.
“So far, 2,035 households have benefited. Out of these, 556 have received dairy cows, 336 have received goats, 48 have received pigs and 538 farmers have benefited from our coffee seedlings,” Ms. Nalwanga said.
“The people who started with one cow now have like 8 cows and those who started with an acre of coffee have also been able to expand and now they are harvesting a lot, hence transforming their lives,” she added.
One of the beneficiaries, Mr. George Lubatutura of Kajumiro village in Kisozi, Gomba District says he got support from the President through the project and now he has banana and coffee plantations as well as a dairy farm seated on 6 acres.
“I thank President Museveni for this project. Before the project, I was very poor, and I had nothing. I used to live in a grass-thatched house with no toilet but when Madam Nalwanga and her team approached me, they told me about the project and trained me; now I’m a farmer whose life has been transformed,”Mr. Lubatutura said.
“From the coffee, I get 120 bags and in a season I’m able to make about Shs 40 million in profits. And from the cows, I’m able to make over Shs1 million each month in profits. I have been able to build a nice house for myself and look after my family through commercial agriculture. I have been able to do this in a period of 10 years,” he added.
Mr. Lubatutura further appealed to President Museveni to set up a coffee processing machine in their area to help them add value to their product and benefit more.
Another beneficiary, Ssalongo Fred Lugobe, a resident of Kajumiro village also rears dairy cows, grows coffee and bananas, all courtesy of President Museveni’s support.
“I thank President Museveni and Ms. Nalwanga for bringing development to our area. Before the project, I was very poor with no capability to take care of myself and family. Now, I make Shs600,000 monthly from dairy and I’m able to use this money to look after my family,” he asserted.
“From my 5-acre coffee plantation, I’m able to make Shs15 million in a season. I keep part of that money in our SACCO. The situation was very bad on my side before the project but now I’m okay financially,”he concluded.
