ARUA, Uganda — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, campaigning for a seventh consecutive term, promised yesterday to establish new financial funds targeting religious leaders, unemployed university graduates, and local fishermen to boost income generation nationwide.
Speaking at his first campaign rally in Madi-Okollo district and a final event at the Arua City Golf Course, Museveni laid out his vision to expand Uganda’s economy tenfold, from $50 billion to $500 billion, over the next 15 years.
The leader of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party emphasized that the move is aimed at eliminating “spectators” in the national income-generation drive, ensuring “everybody must be a player” in wealth creation.
Museveni pledged to create a dedicated savings and credit co-operative societies (SACCOS) for church and Muslim leaders, organizing them at the diocesan level for clergy like reverends and sheikhs.
He also promised special funds for university graduates in each region, such as West Nile, to help those unemployed for at least two years start their own enterprises. This addresses a national challenge; the Uganda Bureau of Statistics reports the graduate unemployment rate is 15.2%.
For fishermen near lakes, the President acknowledged that the seed money distributed through the Parish Development Model was “not enough,” promising a separate SACCOS to meet their capital needs. Museveni also plans to launch a SACCOS specifically for cultural leaders.
Museveni used the rallies to detail pledges on infrastructure and public services, including tarmacking the road from Panyimur through Pakwach and Madi-Okollo up to Wadelai.
The President promised to use information technology to track medicines and combat absenteeism among health workers in government hospitals. He reiterated the NRM government’s commitment to free education in government primary and secondary schools, highlighting his State House skilling hubs as successful models for providing vocational training to poor youth.
First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni joined the rallies, imploring residents of Arua to vote for the NRM. “Ensure that nobody stays in the village on voting day and that all votes go to NRM,” she said.
The NRM party demonstrated its presence with a large procession through Arua city, featuring supporters in yellow party attire and vehicles branded with campaign posters. Local religious leaders and NRM officials, including Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, addressed the thousands of attendees.
Museveni received a group of opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) youth supporters, led by a former Makerere University guild president, who crossed over to the NRM at the Arua rally. In the last general election, Museveni secured nearly 70% of the vote in both Arua and Madi-Okollo districts.
