President Museveni pushes for subsidy of factory electricity • Warns on delays to pass budget • Explains refusal to sign certain bills President Yoweri Museveni has warned making mistakes has caused the country valuable time in the transformation process and called on his cabinet and senior technocrats to put more effort in pushing for the commercialization of agriculture, saying that is where the solution to poverty lies. “Everybody must put an effort in this. The problem with you people and the members of parliament is that you are living with people who have no money and yet have land. This is October now, the agriculture budget has not been passed. Since you know that our agriculture is based on seasons. Where are you people in Parliament from? How can you make the whole country miss a season? We must eliminate subsistence agriculture,” he said, adding if Parliament wants to delay passing of the budget, they should at least give agriculture priority. The President was speaking at the Cabinet Retreat on the 2nd National Development Plan at Speke Resort in Munyonyo. He urged ministers and members of parliament to move rapidly on the issue of commercializing agriculture including, value addition, procurement of maize mills, juice extractors etc to facilitate exports in the region. “I have been listening to your mistakes for many years; it is time for you to listen to me. I celebrated 70years, time for mistakes is over,” he said. The President said government must subsidize electricity for factories saying mistakes in the energy police should not be accepted. He said the country cannot afford energy distortions and that the policy must be corrected. The President also pointed out the crucial issues as road and electricity infrastructure for quick transformation, explaining why he refused to sign the bill refusing to remove taxes on some products as recommended by parliament. “People must build their country. Whose country is this? If you want economic transformation why do you stop a small contribution to your country,” urging Parliament to carefully study the bills and the prevailing situations. The President acknowledged that the Uganda investment Authority was a problem to the country after failing to implement a one stop centre to fast track investors needs. On Corruption, President Museveni acknowledged corruption was a big challenge and said when he was in Texas, some Ugandans reported to him various incidences and that he had also witness an incident involving traffic police in Mabira Forest when his convoy stopped suddenly near traffic police who had stopped a truck. “It seems that the job of traffic police is get money from people. These are young people doing this. We had removed the old people thinking these would do better. Gen. Aronda and Gen. Kayihura should put spies in the trucks to avoid traffic police asking for bribes. They are giving a bad name to the country,” he said. On unemployment, the President highlighted the various efforts government has put in place to handle the situation including the prevailing peace and security but hastened to add, that you can not maintain peace permanently unless you address unemployment. “This peace must be supported by development and transformation,” he said. On the issue of starting an airline, the President warned that this issue needs to be studied more carefully and that the manager for the Civil Aviation Authority must provide answers on why Air Uganda was grounded. “If a private airline that was doing a good job was grounded and issue not resolved, we still have roads, electricity etc. You are stopping a private investor you could have supported, why carry this burden,” he said. The President said he will soon streamline his office and develop Standard Operational Procedures for better coordination and public relations, saying some engagements that take up the President and Prime Ministers time will revert RDCs to give more time for work and to cut costs
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 06:54:48 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015