BY MARIAM NAMAKULA
While on his three days’ visit in Masaka District, President Museveni has rallied wealth creators to desist from the vice of fragmenting their wealth soon after they are gone.
Museveni who was addressing mainly commercial farmers on Tuesday, noted that it was unfortunate that the legacies of many Africans continued to fade out long after they are gone having entrusted their wealth with their relatives who always fragment it.
For him, dividing one’s wealth in form of shares was a better option especially that those that are entrusted with it will always look forward to keeping it intact so as to earn a profit.
“Stop the red ant culture, in Europe you will hear people like Henry Ford who discovered motor vehicles, he died long ago but the business left is now much bigger than what he left,” Museveni alluded.
He noted that in Uganda unfortunately the rich died with their wealth and the next generation will always struggle to start afresh which was a big vice and needed get rid of.
Museveni’s visit to the greater Masaka is intended to spread the gospel of wealth creation including rallying the masses to join government poverty alleviation programs including Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), Emyooga and the recently launched Parish Develoment Model (PDM)
He noted that all these programs were meant for the local people who haven’t joined the money economy urging all local leaders to extract a plan to enable the masses benefit from the programs
“The leaders and experts in this area, the experts I mean the agricultural officers, the vets working with the leaders , work out a plan which the central government will support to consolidate these ones who have entered the money creation,” Museveni said.
Adding that the PDM money was mainly targeting the other people who were still out of the money economy
“As you hear the people of Kakunu were assisted by OWC, the man of Kyesiga was helped by the same , the youth of Kenamukaka with the help of vice president and now the PDM is the heir to OWC,” he emphasized.
Noting that however, they decided to organize the local people, including the wealth creators in the parish so that they receive their money directly and perform actives like buying the seedlings for yourselves
Museveni added that this was guided by the complaints that pinned Soldiers who were responsible for running the program for solely benefiting from the program, buying over priced items and that some times of inferior quality.
“When you go to allocate start with those that haven’t started commercial farming, when every body in the parish has entered the money economy then you can go back to those that joined earlier,” he urged the leaders.
Adding that the intention was to have wealth creators in the parish, all the farmers, the farmers of crops, the farmers of cattle, livestock all join the parish SACCO and that if there are parts of the country which have all gotten into the money economy, then the secretariat considered even the rich people to join the PDM.
Assuring that this was a very big formula and that it will get the people out of poverty since the funds will be released every year and that they remain at there parish and constituency levels without being returned to the central government
The president also paid a courtesy visit to the Kyesiiga Green Village Farming Center at Lwenonde village, Kyesiima parish , Kyesiiga sub county were he pledged to accord them the necessary support including giving them a Canter Truck to help them with their farming activities including transportation of yields to the market place
The center is home to a 20 acre coffee plantations, 40 acre pineapples plantation, half acre of a nursery beds, two and a half acre of passion fruits and a solar irrigation power plant.
