(Masindi) – President Yoweri Museveni recently gathered the good people of Bunyoro at Booma Grounds, Masindi, and urged them to declare an end to poverty in a grand display of optimism that would make even a weatherman blush. Just declare it, and poof! It’s gone! It’s the kind of magic you would expect to see in a Ugandan village where a child with a bit of sugarcane can make a whole crowd giggle.
On September 20, 2024, Museveni introduced the crowd to his model of hope: the Parish Development Model (PDM), which he launched back in February 2022. This program aims to whisk approximately 3.5 million households from the depths of subsistence farming to the glamorous land of the money economy, where cash flows like the Nile itself.
With the enthusiasm of a primary school teacher trying to inspire a room full of sleepy children, Museveni painted a picture of infrastructural development. He emphasized the importance of roads and electricity, saying that these would help create jobs. After all, when a wealthy individual, like state minister Balaam Barugahara, builds a five star hotel, it’s not just about luxury—it’s about job creation!
Museveni, ever the example setter, boasted about his farms in Kisozi and Rwakitura, claiming they have created hundreds of jobs. It is like your uncle who always brags about the size of his farm, while you are left wondering when he’s going to share some of that Matooke.
He went on to urge the locals to take a page from the playbook of successful commercial farmers using the “4-acre model” of farming, which sounds about as manageable as trying to juggle while riding a boda boda. One acre for coffee, another for fruits, the third for staples, and the fourth for livestock.
In an attempt to bring everyone together, Museveni recalled a popular greeting among members of the Bunyoro-based Faith of Unity church: “Okwahukana” (disunity), to which the reply is “Kuhoireho” (has ended). The President took this charming custom and asked the crowd to chant “obunaku buhoireho” (poverty has ended), which they did with the enthusiasm of a football crowd after a last minute goal.
And then came the real lesson on wealth creation. Museveni emphasized that while development (think roads, hospitals, and electricity) is crucial, it’s wealth that fills your plate and pays the bills. “You can have the best roads in the land, but if you don’t have the money to pay your electricity bill, what’s the point?” It’s like buying a fancy car but living in a mud hut—impressive from afar, but deeply impractical.
He illustrated his point with a nostalgic story from the 1960s about introducing dairy farming in the cattle corridor of North Ankole. Back then, there were no roads, but those farmers became rich selling milk and beef. Museveni seemed to suggest that if they could do it, so can the people of Bunyoro—without roads and possibly with only a couple of cows as their loyal companions.
Amidst all this talk of wealth and agriculture, Museveni promised to throw in some cash for local programs like Emyooga and the PDM. “For every parish, we are sending sh100 million every year,” he announced, which sounded a bit like a school headmaster promising to give all the children a sweet each, provided they first clean the schoolyard.
The President pledged sh260 million for rehabilitating the historic Kabalega Primary School, which must have sent the local schoolchildren into a fit of glee. He also promised sh20 million for boda-boda SACCOs and even some tractors for religious institutions. Because, after all, when God said, “Let there be light,” He probably meant that light should also be shone on the agricultural sector.
At the event, several dignitaries, including various ministers, were present, all nodding along in agreement. It was a veritable political jamboree—like a local wedding but without the free food (unless you count political promises as nourishment).
As the people of Bunyoro go home chanting “obunaku buhoireho,” let’s hope they remember that while declaring poverty over is a great start, a good Matooke meal might still take a bit more than just a prayer and a cheer.
