BY DOROTHY NALUMANSI
KAMPALA. Former Presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine has asked the people of Busoga sub-region not to associate himself with President Museveni after causing poverty in the region.
Bobi Wine was responding to the recent comments made by President Museveni while at Kyando playground in Mayuge district where he presided over the inaugural Bishop James Hannington Day during which he wondered how the people of Busoga manage to live in extreme poverty.
“Busoga used to be the industrial area of East Africa, biggest sugar cane growers and the place with best schools like Kiira College Butiki, Busoga College Mwiri but Museveni has killed all these. Please don’t associate yourselves with him, you are on your own,”Bobi Wine said at the weekend as he welcomed Mr Andrew Kaluuya from the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Iganga District.
In his speech, President Museveni said, “I have been peeping through my car window as I travelled here for this function and I have kept wondering to myself how do these people live through this sort of poverty? I have screened through all these villages where I have passed but the houses and all the other things I have seen have left me wondering how it’s possible for our people to survive through these hard economic conditions.”
The 2016/17 Uganda National Household Survey data indicated that 74.8 per cent of people in Busoga Sub-region were considered poor and insecure against a national average of 63 per cent.
Busoga sub-region is divided into 11 districts, 114 sub-counties and 648 parishes, four municipalities and 11 town councils.
In 2010, nine of these districts were invaded by jiggers and apart from the poor hygiene, many people blamed the jiggers on poverty.
On November 5, 2022, Bobi Wine said that despite the fact that the region is well endowed with tourism centers, these have been neglected by the government of President Museveni.
“We have Kiira(river Nile) and many other tourism centers but the person who stole all the wealth is back to laugh at you. I am happy you are listening and it is evident how you voted in the last election,” Bobi Wine said as he asked leaders in the region including former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to join the side of the people.
Data from Uganda Tourism Board of 2018/19 indicated that Busoga receives 24 per cent of all tourists that visit Uganda. However, most of the tourist sites remain undeveloped.
Some of them include the Source of Nile, Kagulu Hill, Mpumuire/Mpumudde Hill and Kyando (Bishop Hannington site).
In his response, Mr Rogers Mulindwa, the spokesperson of NRM secretariat disagreed with President Museveni’s comments about the poverty levels in Busoga saying that the region is not exceptional to the rest of the country.
“I want to disagree with the President that Busoga is poor as compared to the other regions, even in Kampala there are people who cannot afford a meal but there are those who eat and throw away the food, Busoga is not an exception,”Mr Mulindwa said last evening.
He added, “The problem with the NRM leaders is that after being voted, they come and hide in Kampala and get disconnected from the people which allows Bobi Wine to go there with his propaganda. And for a fact, the MPs of Busoga deliberately refused to campaign for President Museveni that is why he lost in Busoga. They chose to campaign for themselves.”
In the presidential elections, President Museveni suffered a blow as voters showed more support for Bobi Wine than the incumbent despite enjoying victory in the previous elections over his opponents.
A day after the Saturday incidents in Iganga, while attending a sports event in the Masaka region, Bobi Wine castigated the NUP leaders for creating divisions among themselves. The function was attended by Mathias Mpuuga, the party deputy President in charge of the central region as well as other party leaders.
