President Yoweri Museveni has appealed to Ugandans to work hard and generate income but emphasized that this needs to be backed by a strong saving culture because resources that are saved result in wealth for today and investments for the future generations.
The President made the remarks at the opening of the Lwengo District Economic and Agricultural Trade Fare held yesterday at Lwengo district headquarters in Mbirizi town.
He said that generating income and saving it for re-investment helps to create income for future generations and appealed to Ugandans to produce for the market, save what they earn from their production activities and avoid wasting it in unnecessary luxuries. He called on the youth to lead in this philosphy.
“Do save for the future, I did this myself. I bought my Rwakitura farm when I was 21 years old and it has made me rich. I don’t get anything from government. They even attempted to increase my salary and I refused because as long as there is peace in the country I have to get rich”, he said.
The President, who also laid a foundation stone for the construction of Lwengo district local government administration premises, wondered why the population wastes time politicking other than planning for wealth creation. He noted that even if the government was to provide all the development infrastructure the country, it would not develop and be transformed as long as the population has no source of income.
Museveni called on Ugandans to engage in modern commercial and profit oriented agricultural production and said government is not short of funds to invest in the agricultural sector but corruption among some government agencies like National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) where officials abuse funds meant for enhancing the agricultural sector in the country is the biggest challenge
“Money is not a problem and will not be a problem. The problem has been lack of economic awakening by the population and the misuse of funds by the NAADS officials”, he said.
The President commended the positive economic attitude exhibited by the leadership and people of Lwengo district and expressed his government’s commitment to supporting their development programmes that are aimed at the socio-economic empowerment of the population in the district.
Lwengo district LC 5 Chairman, Pius Mutabazi, commended the President for the positive government programmes such as the micro-credit scheme, the youth fund and for construction of the state of art technical institutions in the district.
The Lwengo district officials observed that their area is on the right track to economic progress and transformation although some challenges remain, such as a poor saving culture, poor book keeping record by the population and lack of market control and regulations as well as low developmental attitude that makes the people expect government to do everything for them.
