{UAH} President's new year message: 'national I.Ds to track murderers', hails awakening in wealth-creation

NEW YEAR MESSAGE
2015

BY

H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
President of the Republic of Uganda


December 31, 2014


Dear Countrymen,

I greet you all, first and foremost.

Secondly, I congratulate you on having spent a Merry Christmas. It is
so sad some of our country-men or women died on the very day of
Christmas such as Mzee Kamugasha Paskalli of Mbarara and Sheikh Abdu
Kadir Muwaya of Mayuge. Mzee Kamugasha died of natural causes.
However, Sheikh Muwaya was murdered by gunmen. I told the Inspector
General of Police (IGP) to make sure that they find the killers of the
Sheikh.

A number of our Moslem Sheikhs have been murdered in mysterious
circumstances, involving shooting. Sheikh Bahiga was only gunned down
the other day, soon after Sheikh Muwaya who was killed on Christmas
night. There must be something sinister going on in our Moslem
community. This is the 5th killing of a Moslem religious leader.
Those killed in this way are: the late Sheikhs Abdul Khadir Muwaya,
the late Bayiga Mustafah, the late Abdu Sentamu, the late Abasi
Abubaker Kiwewa and late Yusuf Abubaker Madango. May their souls rest
in eternal peace. I extend my condolences to their families and to
all Ugandans.

Using old methods of investigations, the Police has been able to
achieve the following in these investigations:
(i) suspects have been arrested and charged for murder and remanded in prison;
(ii) recovered guns and training manuals from the suspects;
(iii) in the case of the two recent murders, they have arrested 16
suspects and are currently being interrogated;
(iv) prevented attacks on police stations in different parts of the
country, as earlier planned by the suspects.

In the case of Sheikh Abasi Abubaker Kiwewa and Sheikh Yusuf Abubaker
Madango, it is now up to the Judicial process to listen to the cases
and sort them out. Unfortunately, the Judiciary released Lule Balaba,
Kawule Muzafari Mugoya, Dhabanji Musa and Sheikh Twaha Baligeya on
bail, who, then, proceeded to escape. This is unacceptable. Why does
the Judiciary release somebody charged with such serious crimes on
bail?

The Minister of Justice will put before Parliament an amendment to the
Constitution, as soon as Parliament opens, to stop this issue of bail
in matters of murder, rape, defilement, treason and corruption.

Above, I referred to the Police using old methods because there are
three modern strategic systems that would simplify and expedite crime
investigation. One strategic system of the computerized Identity Card
(ID) project has just been finally put in place by Gen. Aronda
Nyakairima. This will help from a number of angles which I do not
want to go into here.

Another strategic system will be deployed soon. The third strategic
system, that of cameras, is also being studied for, at least, the
towns. As you saw in London, when there was bombing in the railway
station, it was easier for the Police to trace the culprit because his
picture had been captured in the station.

Here, in Uganda, we were able to discover the crimes of the
bad-hearted house maid because of the camera. Those private companies
and individuals who can afford to deploy cameras around their premises
should do so as the State sorts out that aspect. Although we know the
value of these systems, we have taken long to acquire them because of
competing demands: roads, electricity, the railway, wages of public
servants, Defence, etc. By acquiring the right equipment, we were
able to defeat insurgency and cattle-rustling. We are also going to
defeat these cowardly criminals who shoot unarmed people. In the
meantime, the available means will be deployed to catch these
criminals. They won't escape, wherever they go. I guarantee Ugandans
on that. Why should a Ugandan kill another one? This is most
unacceptable.

Thirdly, I congratulate you on finishing the year 2014 and wish you
all the best in the new coming year.

Fourthly, I congratulate all Ugandans because when I fly over Uganda
nowadays, I notice a spirit of Okusiimuka, Kuzukuka, Co (Acholi),
Okwenyu (Ateso), Akenyun (Karamoja), Enga-oduasi (Lugbara), all of
which mean "waking up". What do I mean by "waking up"? The "waking
up" I am talking about is more and more Ugandan families entering
small scale commercial farming with "ekibaro", "Cura", "Otita",
"Aimar" ─ i.e. with the aim of maximizing financial returns per acre
as we have been recommending to you ever since 1995. The policy of
the four acres plan ─ one acre for clonal coffee; one acre for fruits
(oranges, mangoes and pineapples); one acre of bananas, cassava, Irish
potatoes, etc. for food crops; and one acre for pasture (elephant
grass, chloris guyana, etc) for, at least, 6 dairy cattle. On top of
these, to add some backyard activities (emanju) such as poultry for
eggs, piggeries for those who are not Moslems and fish farming for
those who are near the swamps.

This plan was in order to overcome poverty from all our homesteads
through small scale commercial production. It was, in particular, to
rescue those homesteads that have, unfortunately, already fragmented
their land through wrong inheritance practices. I have repeatedly been
advising you that this land fragmentation must end. We have been
talking about it for almost the last 20 years with little movement.
That is why last year, I introduced the UPDF officers into the NAADS
programme, starting with the Fronasa ─ NRA operational areas of
1971-1986. That UPDF involvement has been very successful; so much
that we have had maize bumper crops in the Luwero area, in the Kibaale
area, etc. etc.

However, what is now most pleasing is to fly over some parts of Uganda
and you start seeing the Ugandans "waking up" ─ Kusiimuka. A few weeks
ago, I flew to Kidepo to arbitrate in the issue of the human beings
Vs the wildlife in the Karenga area. Over Busoga, there is alot of
sugarcane cultivation, not only by the Madhivanis but also by many,
many out-growers. This would be good but I have got a problem with the
"ekibaro" of sugarcane on a small scale. Out of one acre and after 18
months of waiting, an average farmer ends up getting only Shs.
2.1million (two million one hundred thousand shillings).

That is why, through Lt. Col. Dhamuzungu and the other UPDF officers
deployed in the region, we insist on the four acres plan. It is
that, that will rescue the people from poverty in Busoga. Out of
Busoga, I flew over the Palisa-Teso area. Especially in the Teso
area, I noticed that about 10% of the homesteads had listened to our
advice of adopting citrus fruits growing. You see patches of the
oranges, not in all the homesteads unfortunately. It is, however, now
noticeable. Therefore, there is some kusiimuka there. I congratulate
those families that have joined the small scale commercial farming. I
encourage all the other families in Teso that have not yet joined this
effort to take advantage of the UPDF officers we have deployed to
start on the journey to eliminate poverty from their homesteads.

Towards Christmas, I flew towards the south-west, while going to
attend the wedding of Hon. Bright Rwamirama's son and while going to
Rwakitura for Christmas. Over the Masaka-Rakai-Lyantonde-Lwengo
areas, I flew over patches of well tended, properly lined coffee
gardens of one acre, two acres and, in some cases, what appeared to be
10 acres. This was very pleasing. In one garden on the right of the
Masaka-Mbarara road in the Kyazanga area, the farmer has the coffee
trees under the shades of the well-spaced Misizi trees (mysoposis).
It was a beautiful sight. I have checked with Uganda Coffee
Development Authority (UCDA) whether the coffee can do well with the
Misizi. They say that as long as Misizi are well scattered between
the coffee trees, it provides good shades for the coffee during the
dry period and, it later, provides income from timber. This is a good
combination for both medium and long-term investments as well as for
the environment. The coffee will start producing coffee berries in 18
months. The Misizi will be ready for harvesting good timber in 25
years.

There were also impressive gardens of maize scattered all over the
areas. After the Masaka-Kalungu-Lwengo-Rakai-Lyantonde areas, where I
could see signs of okusiimuka, I entered the Kiruhuura-Isingiro areas,
around Lakes Kakyeera-Mburo and River Rwizi. There, in addition to
the well-fenced and well weeded (removing the shrubs, the
muteete-cymbopogan afronadus, etc.), the farmers have now planted
large patches of what appeared to be maize as well as patches of
bananas and impressive herds of improved goats that would stampede on
the sound of the helicopter. In the well weeded farms, you would
notice herds of the less panicky friesian cattle that would look up
curiously at the speeding helicopter, scamper a little bit and, then,
go back to grazing. Just before Christmas, I had gone to Fort-Portal
to attend the World AIDS day. On the way, I noticed large patches of
maize and by the time I landed near the Kyamara primary school, I was
in the midst of very well tended tea estates. The price of tea has
now gone down because of the chaos that engulfed North Africa and the
Middle East since 2011.

However, the situation is now settling down in those countries. I
hope their consumption of our tea will go up again and the price will
go up. On the 21st of December, I flew to Gomba and, then, on to
Masindi. Again, I saw some kusiimuka by farmers growing large patches
of maize in the Mpigi-Butambala-Gomba areas and, then, the cattle
farms in the Kiboga-Kyankwanzi-Ngoma-Masindi areas before hitting the
sugarcane shambas around Kinyara. As I have told you repeatedly, I
have no quarrel with sugarcane or maize if you have enough acreage of
say 20 acres, whereby you do my 6 anti-poverty activities (coffee,
fruits, food crops and zero-grazing dairy cattle in addition to the
backyard activities of poultry and piggery) and, then, you add on 10
or so acres of sugarcane or maize. Out of 10 acres of maize, grown
twice a year, you will end up earning 28 million shillings a year.
Out of 10 acres of sugarcane, you will end up earning 21 million
shillings in 18 months (a year and a half). You will have done the
ekibaro plus some additional income.

We, of course, need maize for food for institutions (Army, Police,
Schools, Hospitals, Prisons) and for animal feeds (poultry, cattle,
pigs, etc). The families of 4 acres and less should concentrate on the
6 activities (clonal coffee, fruits, food-crop, zero grazing cattle,
poultry and piggery (in the backyard) plus fish farming if you are
near the swamps. Maize, sugarcane, cotton, cattle-ranching that we
also need badly not only for strategic industries but also to support
the dairy and the poultry industries, should be done by the families
that have more land than the four acres.

In my speeches, I normally concentrate on the families of the 4 acres
and less. This is because the majority of the traditional families
find themselves in this category. Through bad inheritance practices,
they have already fragmented the land. My strong advice has always
been: "stop further land fragmentation". The more enlightened and
larger scale farmers know what to do. They only need the improved
seeds that are, fortunately, available in the research institutions,
machinery for hire, etc. as well as improved road networks to market
what is produced on the farms. Otherwise, they know what to do or can
easily copy the good practices.

As I normally tell you, agriculture alone cannot transform a country
into modernity. In fact agriculture cannot thrive without industry.
This was point no. 5 of our ten points programme. Agriculture needs
implements from industry; needs fertilizers from industry; and needs
chemicals and drugs from industry. It also needs industries that
process what agriculture produces so that it reaches the distant
markets and does so at a higher value. We need factories to process
maize, milk, beef, coffee, bananas, fruits, leather, Irish potatoes,
sweet potatoes, cotton, sugarcane, timber, etc, etc.

These factories need cheap electricity. It is all a chain of
linkages. In my address to the NRM National Conference, I addressed
most of those issues. I do not have to repeat them here. On this
occasion, I, mainly, wanted to congratulate you on finishing the year
2014 and on the growing kusiimuka, kuzukuka, Co (Acholi), Okwenyu
(Ateso), Akenyun (Karamoja), Enga-oduasi (Lugbara), out of traditional
agriculture, into modern, small scale commercial farming. As you
know, subsistence farming has been the main cause of poverty in the
history of Uganda. The census of 2002 pointed out that only 32% of
the homesteads in Uganda were in the money economy!! 68% were in
subsistence (in other-words, non-money) economy!! How, then, can you
wonder that there is poverty in the rural areas in Uganda? Since
1995, the NRM has been recommending to you a therapy. I am glad, more
and more families are embracing this formula. The percentage of the
people living below the poverty line has now gone down to 19%. This
figure will be even better if all the families listen to our advice
and take advantage of the UPDF officers to get out of poverty through
small scale commercial farming.

The urban areas are also not forgotten. We have also deployed UPDF
officers there. They will encourage peri-urban agriculture of items
like vegetables, onions, mushrooms, etc. and also artisan skills and
equipment such as handlooms, sewing machines. The mega solution for
jobs in the towns, however, are the factories such as the ones in the
Namanve or Luzira areas.

I thank all of you and wish you a happy and prosperous New Year, Two
Thousand and Fifteen.


31st December 2014

- Rwakitura

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