President Museveni:I launched a pasture improvement project under the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Agriculture Research Organization (NARO). I also used the same occasion in Mbarara to distribute tractors to farmers under the Operation Wealth Creation programme as we move towards mechanising agriculture. This particular programme will later be rolled out to other parts of the country. There will be a cost-sharing element with farmers in running these tractorsPresident Museveni:About the pasture programme, I am glad that we are now moving towards scientific methods like planting pasture and irrigation. We have previously relied on naturally occurring resources like water and grass for grazing. The recent drought has taught us the importance of water. I therefore appeal to those that have been encroaching on swamps to vacate them voluntarily before we use other methods to evict themPresident Museveni:We have piloted the solar-powered water pumps in Kabale and we shall gradually roll them out in the rest of the country. On concerns of adulterated pesticides, my view is that such medicine should not be traded for profit. Government is working on eliminating private dealers so that the agriculture ministry takes over this role.
President Museveni: First, I want to point out that when discussing women or child issues, they should not be isolated from the other issues of society. You can’t empower them without addressing the issues of the community. For example, how will you empower women without security? When you talk of women you should remember security and all the other issuesPresident Museveni: When going to Dokolo I was doing an audit. I saw telephones. Everyone has a phone now. Everyone who came here drove on good roads. We now have electricity in Dokolo. We have schools and health centers, reason the population has grown, especially due to immunization. When the NRM took power, there were just 14 million Ugandans, today they are 40 million–all these are NRM children. Flying over Dokolo, I saw a lot of mabati houses which was not the case before. The housing in the villages has improved. We also inaugurated a new water plant today at the districtPresident Museveni: All the intiatives I have mentioned above are meant to empower the women. Accessible clean water, for example, contributes to well-being of women because it reduces their work. That said, the emphasis now is on loonyo (wealth) and tich (work). We are going to attract more factories. Those who live in Lira town can testify. The last I checked there were 44 factories in Lira, employing many people. We therefore need to attract more of these now that we have electricity. Here in Dokolo I would like the people to offer 3-4 square miles of land so that when an investor comes, we have land to give him for a factory. This will firm our three pillars of wealth creation; modern agriculture, factories and tourismPresident Museveni: I should also say something about the NRM’s history with women. When in FRONASA and fighting Idi Amin, we had both male and female fighters. But when we defeated Amin and had to unite with the other fighting groups, they blocked our women’s entry into the army. The unit of female fighters based in Mbarara had to be disbanded. I was disappointed. However, in 1986 we were in charge and we had women among our fighters. It is what you see now with this parade composed of only women. So there’s nothing women can’t do that men can do, if anything, they can do better because they can pass a thread through the eye of a needle
The $20 million facility has so far created jobs for 75 Ugandans and has capacity of refining up to 300,000 kilograms of gold weekly.President Museveni commissioned the newly-built African Gold Refinery in Entebbe, Wakiso District on February 20, 2017Government will abolish the royalties tax to boost the minerals sector and punish government officials who frustrate investors and delay manufacturers, processors and investors
