Saturday, August 3, 2013

President Museveni ignoring problems affecting Ugandans, MPs say


A supporter of Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement lifts an election poster of president Yoweri Museveni
A supporter of Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement lifts an election poster of president Yoweri Museveni. Phograph: Reuters/Radu Sigheti


Kampala
President Museveni’s State–of-the-Nation Address continues to draw criticism with MPs on Thursday accusing him of being a dreamer who is ignoring the problems gripping the country.


Reacting to the address presented by Mr Museveni in July, MPs said the President did not confront issues of governance, funding for agriculture, the poor road and railway network.


Mr Wafula Oguttu, the Bukholi Central MP, accused the President of championing a budgeting process skewed towards the rich, leaving majority of Ugandans out. He said Mr Museveni has turned away from the ideals of the 10-Point Programme, a set of economic and political action points hatched during the 1981-86 Bush War as an antidote to a country emerging from years of misrule and economic turmoil.


MPs accused Mr Museveni of suffering from ideological disorientation and being a dreamer over a suggestion he made that the government will construct an underground railway system.
“Everything that belongs to the Uganda Railways has been sold. If you fail to construct a ground train, how can you say you are going to construct an underground train?” Mr Deogratius Kiyingi (DP, Kalungu East) asked.


Efforts to get a comment from Mr Ofwono Opondo, the government spokesperson, Mr Frank Tumwebaze, the minister for the Presidency or Mr Tamale Mirundi, the President’s spokesperson, by the time of filing this report were futile as they did not respond to their known phone numbers. However, Mr Simon Mulongo (Bubulo East) said the President’s address tackled security problems.

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