Kyankwanzi – President Yoweri Museveni has urged residents of Kyankwanzi District to focus on wealth creation and job generation, saying peace and stability under the National Resistance Movement (NRM) provide a strong foundation for economic transformation.
Addressing supporters during an NRM campaign rally in Kyankwanzi on Tuesday, Museveni said the party’s first major achievement was restoring and sustaining peace, noting that communities in Luweero and surrounding areas had endured devastating wars in the 1970s and 1980s.
He said Uganda has now enjoyed about four decades without war, allowing a generation to grow up without experiencing conflict, unlike some neighbouring countries still facing instability.
Museveni explained that peace was achieved by abolishing sectarian politics based on religion, tribe and gender, which enabled the building of strong national institutions such as the army, police and prisons.
Turning to development, the President highlighted major improvements in infrastructure, particularly road networks and electricity. He said roads that previously ended in Busunju and Mityana now extend to the lake region, through Mubende to Fort Portal and up to the Democratic Republic of Congo border. Out of Kyankwanzi’s 21 sub-counties, he noted that only three are yet to be connected to the national power grid.
He added that access to safe water in the district has also improved, with 420 out of 486 villages now served, although more effort is needed to support irrigation. Museveni emphasized irrigation as a key driver of agricultural productivity, citing his own banana plantation in Bushenyi where yields are significantly higher due to irrigation. He said Kyankwanzi’s swamps present an opportunity for planned irrigation schemes, while warning against encroachment on wetlands.
Museveni said the NRM’s approach goes beyond development to deliberate wealth creation, arguing that no government can make citizens rich unless they take initiative. He highlighted the four-acre model as a pathway for small-scale farmers to grow wealth through a mix of cash crops, food production, livestock, poultry and piggery, while encouraging those with larger landholdings to invest in commercial agriculture.
He stressed that increased individual prosperity translates into higher national output and job creation. According to Museveni, most jobs can be generated through commercial farming, industrialization, artisan activities, services and information and communication technology.
NRM Vice Chairman Al-Haji Moses Kigongo thanked supporters for braving the rain to attend the rally, calling it a sign of patriotism and commitment to the party. He urged members to mobilize votes peacefully and in a disciplined manner ahead of the elections.
Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among raised concerns over absentee landlords and the plight of communities living in National Forestry Authority (NFA) forest reserves in Kyankwanzi. She appealed to the President to consider degazetting some land or resettling long-term occupants who have lived there since the 1970s.
NRM Vice Chairperson for the Central Region, Haruna Kasolo, commended party mobilizers conducting door-to-door campaigns and thanked residents for their efforts in combating land grabbing, which he said has been a persistent problem in the district.
Museveni concluded by calling on residents to actively engage in wealth creation as the surest path to sustainable jobs and improved livelihoods.
