Joshua Nahamya
15 October 2024
Mbarara City – The office of the president is presided over by the presidential advisors and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) secretariat has started a revolutionary movement centered on gaining more support as the 2026 elections draw closer.
The team also does the monitoring campaign and presentation of government programs especially on what the ruling government has achieved as per the NRM manifesto in the last 40 years.
According to Lt. Col (RTD) Kibrai Ambako, Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of mobilization, the campaign will foster teamwork and ensure service delivery to build trust and win the hearts of Ugandans come the 2026 general elections.
While addressing NRM chairpersons, civil servants, and politicians in Mbarara city, Kibrai said that what fails the NRM party to get massive support in western Uganda is a denial of information thus challenging the local leaders and technocrats to always avail information related to the projects being implemented in the city for accountability purposes.
“One reason why there is a lot of bickering in NRM is because of not sharing information about government programmes with the lower level structures in government. Let everyone know the amount of money disbursed for each and every project and once you build teamwork and disseminate information, you will be able to operationalize the government programmes very well” Ambako noted
He said that Mbarara city is full of garbage heaps thus challenging the environmental officer to do his part to keep the city clean.
“I have moved around Mbarara city. The roads are there but the streets are not supposed to be littered on. There are heaps of garbage which are unattended to. Don’t you have people in charge of garbage? Why is the rubbish being littered everywhere? This goes to negligence of duty let’s keep Mbarara a model city,” Ambako said
The Presidential Advisor also asked civil servants and local leaders to move to the villages to popularize the government projects and programs.
“We have a tendency of civil servants who sit in their offices and warm chairs from Monday to Friday and from morning up to evening but the president has sent me to ask you to get out of your offices and start talking to the population. Explain to the Wanainchi to understand what the government has done and talk to them about primary health care, Emyooga, and PDM programs among others,” Ambako explained.
He also challenged the local leaders to do research and learn more to be able to inform the communities from an informed point of view.
“Some leaders even can’t explain the government programmes meaning that they don’t do research. Go to social media and in newspapers to look for information and read more to update yourselves.” Ambako said
Catherine Kamwine, Resident city commissioner (RCC) Mbarara cultivated peace and tranquility in the forthcoming elections if Uganda is to develop.
“You have built a city, you have homes where you live you have property and business to protect and you can only do this if you support the government which is in power,” Kamwine noted
She challenged the youth in Mbarara city to participate in government programs like Emyooga and PDM as cornerstones of poverty eradication instead of involving in running battles with security operatives on the streets during the election period.
“As long as I am still the RCC of Mbarara city, I will not tolerate individuals being handpicked to demonstrate on the streets over politicking to destabilize the peace of the city. Let the youth be sensitized they change their mindset towards work but not strikes and demonstrations.” Kamwine explained
She said, “We only need to tell people what the government has done and not our interests and conflicts against each other”.
“We are going to sit as leaders and find out what their issues are. Of course there is conflict in Mbarara between leaders and as a city we are going to hold another meeting such that we iron out such issues because we cannot, move when individuals are conflicting” Kamwine said
Steven Muganga, NRM chairman Biharwe ward asked the central government to ban the commitment of local revenue funds to the consolidated fund which he said has crippled service delivery on the ground.
“According to the auditor general’s report 2022/23 trillions of money went back to the treasury. For Mbarara city in 2021 Shs 15bln returned to the treasury, in 2022 Shs 18bln and in 2023 Shs 12.32bln was taken back to the consolidated fund. Unless the government addresses this challenge, there will always be poor service delivery on the ground.” Muganga said
Assy Abirebe Tumwesigire, city town clerk Mbarara admitted that some beneficiaries in the PDM program received less than Shs 1mln in the first disbursement which contravenes the program’s guidelines.
“It is true that at the beginning of the PDM programme beneficiaries were getting less than 1mln but with the introduction of Pedimis, every beneficiary is receiving Shs 1mln because the system is locked in such a way that you cannot transfer less than 1mln,” Tumwesigire said
He however said that the PDM funds are little and they are overwhelmed by the number of people applying to receive the funds.
“We still have a challenge of very many people who applied for the PDM funds but haven’t got because we are overwhelmed by the number. You find that you have someone who got Shs 500,000 or less then you have a line of people who haven’t gotten even a shilling,” Tumwesigire noted
He also pledged to hold city barazas in all 23 wards to cascade the information with communities on the performance of service delivery in their respective areas.
“We have committed ourselves to convene a baraza in each of the 23 wards we have in the city in November 2024. We shall present ourselves to you such that you are informed about what we have been doing and you also roast us where we have failed to deliver.” Tumwesigire explained
Some of the projects worked on by Mbarara city using the local revenue include; street lights maintenance on Makhan Singh street [Shs 70mln], Karama street lights relocation [Shs 21mln], construction of 3 classroom blocks at Katojo P/S [Shs 108mln], construction of waterborne toilets at city service commission [Shs 22mln], construction of Kajunjo-Rwenturagara road [Shs 54mln], Rwobuyenje-Kishasha-Kinyaza road [Shs 69mln], Rwarire-Ngara [Shs 47mln], Katukuru-Kitagata road [Shs 46mln], construction of 2 classroom block at Katukuru P/S [Shs 76mln], construction of a classroom block at Mukora P/S [47mln, among others.
Away from Mbarara, Fred Bamwine, commissioner RDC secretariat in the Anti-corruption Unit asked the RDCs in Kanungu to arrest officials mismanaging the PDM funds in the district.
He also asked leaders from the Kanungu district to strengthen teamwork and ensure that key government projects cement cordial mobilization on the ground through service delivery and project implementation.
Bamwine challenged the people of Kanungu to join cooperatives if they were to secure a good market for their produce.
