President Museveni rallies Karenga leaders for Wealth Creation

By  Leticia Kahubire

KARENGA

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called on leaders in Karenga District in Karamoja sub-region to help their communities transition from the subsistence economy to the money economy.

The President said leaders should guide their communities in choosing viable enterprises in the four key sectors with the greatest potential for job creation and wealth generation. These sectors, he noted, are commercial agriculture, industry, services and Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

“There are still families trapped in subsistence farming in Karenga and other parts of Uganda,” the President said in a message delivered by the Second Deputy Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Chrispus Kiyonga, during a thanksgiving ceremony for the Minister of State for Ethics and Integrity, Hon. Rose Akello Lilly, in Karenga District on Saturday.

The President said a subsistence lifestyle was no longer sustainable, noting that people need money to meet basic needs beyond food, including medicine, shelter, education and transport.

“This [subsistence lifestyle] is dangerous because, in addition to food, there are other human needs like medicine, shelter, education and transport, among others,” he said. “You cannot meet these needs if you don’t have money. It is no longer sustainable for anyone to live outside the money economy and expect to attain a happy life.”

The President added that no one should claim to be a leader when the people they purport to lead are “wallowing in poverty and ignorance”.

“In the NRM, we equate the role of a leader to that of a medical doctor,” the President said. “A leader is a social doctor. He or she must diagnose the challenges or bottlenecks of society and prescribe the right cure to address them. Once you have correctly diagnosed the challenges of society, then you can make the prescription.”

He congratulated Hon. Akello on her election as the Woman Member of Parliament for Karenga District in the general elections held in January this year.

Christians take the offertory to the altar during the thanksgiving ceremony.

Hon. Akello thanked the President for appointing her to the ministerial position and expressed gratitude to the people of Karenga for electing her to represent them in Parliament.