Teso, Uganda — Uprooting the roots of poverty in Teso seems to be challenging despite President Museveni putting trust in appointing a big number of Itesots to big positions in his government.
President Museveni’s interest in appointing a huge number of Itesots to these big positions was aimed at helping to get rid of poverty levels in Teso, but the President’s interest in seeing Teso out of poverty is not yielding any results.
The region is still being detained by poverty in a big and dark cell, and no leader seems to be ready to move and open the door so that poverty gets out of Teso.
It should be noted that President Museveni has trusted Itesots by giving them a big share of appointments, starting from the Vice President, Speaker of Parliament, Bank of Uganda Governor, Auditor General, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces, Minister for Foreign Affairs, State Minister for Sports, State Minister for Disability, State Minister for Works, State Minister for Fisheries, State Minister for Energy, State Minister for Northern Uganda, State Minister for Teso Affairs, ambassadors, and hundreds of commissioners in various departments.
But despite all those appointments, the region still does not see any impact from them.
It seems these appointed leaders have forgotten that their appointments had the purpose of transforming the region.
Instead of helping the people get out of poverty, some of these leaders are busy buying land from people by force, while others take over privately owned schools instead of giving support to the people.
Domic Okiror, a political analyst in Kumi, said President Museveni might not be happy because the bickering and fighting among themselves for seniority has taken much time that should have been used to mobilise the community towards wealth creation.
Betty Adeke Abulo, a resident, however, had no kind words, saying the current appointments of Iteso in those positions have nothing to do with the development of the Teso region but individual development.
“By the way, who is our Vice President and Speaker?” she asked.
Jorem Opolot, another citizen, urged Ugandans to stop branding Iteso as being favoured, saying there is no impact of those appointments in Teso.
“For me, I just pray President Museveni scraps all those positions and gives them to other regions. Maybe that’s when we shall also benefit, but for now Itesots are not seeing any impact of their sons and daughters being in those positions,” he said.
If Teso loses all the positions they have, those positions have only benefited families and in-laws of those appointed but not the entire community.
“We are just like a region without any person in top government positions, because tell me what Teso has benefited from the Speaker’s office, Vice President’s office, and others if it’s not their own people,” she asked.
According to Abulo, the people who will feel pain when the President makes changes in his appointments are the relatives and children of those appointed, but not the entire region.
Robert Omongole, another citizen, said the majority of Iteso are not seeing the importance of all those positions, adding that there is no single factory in Teso and no single cooperative society operating in the region.
According to him, other regions without those big appointments are doing better than Teso.
He cited Lango, Acholi, Western Uganda, Buganda, and Busoga as having vast industries compared to Teso.
He said that is what the current leaders should have advocated for, but nothing has been done.
“Look at the meat packers; the structures are just idle. Instead of those appointed lobbying investors to come and revive those factories with the help of government, they are busy using their positions to fight for seniority and building massive houses in their villages. For me, I would tell the President to remove all of them,” he said.
According to Omongole, President Museveni will never be blamed for poverty in Teso because he has done a lot for Teso, but the appointed people are the ones betraying Iteso.
