Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday delivered the State of the Nation address at the Serena Conference hall in Kampala, marking the official opening of the third session of the Parliament of Uganda.
Driven in his presidential Limousine together with his wife Janet Museveni, President Museveni set foot at the Serena Hotel at 14:33 EAT and headed to inspect the guard of honour as is the tradition on such functions.
The address was opened by the speaker of Uganda's Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga who highlighted some of the achievements of the 9th Parliament since its 1st session. Among these were bills tabled and those passed. She also said Parliament had lost four of its members.
These are Hon. Elongat Michael, Cerina Nebanda, Eriya Kategaya and Dr. Stephen Malinga. She stressed that others were still in hospitals admitted with various illnesses and hence were unable to appear for the State of the Nation Address.
The Speaker then invited the President to deliver the Address to the house.
Museveni started by highlighting "Bottlenecks" that have been a hindrance to the social, Economic and Political transformation of Uganda. These were,
The failure to end Ideological Disorientation
Building State Pillars
Developing Human resource through education and health
Promoting Private Sector
Developing Infrastructure
Modernising Agriculture
Modernising service delivery
Integrating the African Market
Consolidating Democracy
Museveni suggested solutions to take up inorder to solve these bottlenecks among which were
Provision of safe and clean water to eliminate diseases, boiling all drinking water and ensuring proper hygiene in and around our home to fight biggest health enemy-the mosquito.
He empasised that government has put in alot of effort to provide free education to all Ugandans right from Primary to Institutional level. He stressed that the Student loan scheme will be starting in the next financial year as a way of ensuring that even those with financial difficulties get access to education.
He said strategies have been put in place to fight the high Maternal Mortality rates in the country but advised all mothers to make use of the available health centers and to ensure that they have all their kids delivered from health centres.
He advised Ugandans to change their lifestyles as this has contributed to the rampant deaths especially of the rich who he said are eating poor foods that cause obesity.He said this could reduce deaths by about 80%.
Alot of energy has been invested in Human resource especially through trainings and formal education.
Museveni also challenged communication service providers to give cause why it is still very expensive to communicate especially across borders yet all avenues have been put in place to make communication more cheaper and very affordable by all.
He said electricity would become very cheap once the construction of the Karuma, Ayago dams which will generate 600mega watts are completed.
On the field of transpoet, Museveni said the Railway line construction was in process and the UPDF brigade had been assigned the duty to oversee the construction of the line.
He emphasised that investors should not be given hard time trying to set up businesses in the Country. He said approval or rejection of an investment appraisal should not take more than 3 working days.
Agricultural modernisation has been given priority and that the NAADS programme is going to be reorganised to help all farmers access government assistance aimed at improving agriculture.
He said over fishing especially on Lake Victoria had affected the agricultural industry. He said about 21 fish factories had closed business due to operating below target as a result of decline in fish production. He called upon all Ugandans to ensure that the habit of overfishing ends and the small fish is let to grow and lay eggs.
On the state of the economy, Museveni said the Country was on the right truck. He said the GDP had risen to 5.1 %, inflation rate had reduced to 3.6%, Foreign exchange reserves had risen to $3.3billion, Export earnings had gone up to $4.9 billion, remittances from abroad stand at $6.67billion. The general GDP figure stands at shs.54 trillion or $20.2 billion.
He blamed the inflation rate that hit the country two years back to Anti-NRM activists who were always failing government programmes.
He assured the Nation that all corrupt officials will be dealt with in the appropriate ways. He said he is the expert in fighting corruption, forcing the members present at the address into laughter.
Driven in his presidential Limousine together with his wife Janet Museveni, President Museveni set foot at the Serena Hotel at 14:33 EAT and headed to inspect the guard of honour as is the tradition on such functions.
| President Museveni. |
The address was opened by the speaker of Uganda's Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga who highlighted some of the achievements of the 9th Parliament since its 1st session. Among these were bills tabled and those passed. She also said Parliament had lost four of its members.
These are Hon. Elongat Michael, Cerina Nebanda, Eriya Kategaya and Dr. Stephen Malinga. She stressed that others were still in hospitals admitted with various illnesses and hence were unable to appear for the State of the Nation Address.
The Speaker then invited the President to deliver the Address to the house.
Museveni started by highlighting "Bottlenecks" that have been a hindrance to the social, Economic and Political transformation of Uganda. These were,
The failure to end Ideological Disorientation
Building State Pillars
Developing Human resource through education and health
Promoting Private Sector
Developing Infrastructure
Modernising Agriculture
Modernising service delivery
Integrating the African Market
Consolidating Democracy
Museveni suggested solutions to take up inorder to solve these bottlenecks among which were
Provision of safe and clean water to eliminate diseases, boiling all drinking water and ensuring proper hygiene in and around our home to fight biggest health enemy-the mosquito.
He empasised that government has put in alot of effort to provide free education to all Ugandans right from Primary to Institutional level. He stressed that the Student loan scheme will be starting in the next financial year as a way of ensuring that even those with financial difficulties get access to education.
He said strategies have been put in place to fight the high Maternal Mortality rates in the country but advised all mothers to make use of the available health centers and to ensure that they have all their kids delivered from health centres.
He advised Ugandans to change their lifestyles as this has contributed to the rampant deaths especially of the rich who he said are eating poor foods that cause obesity.He said this could reduce deaths by about 80%.
Alot of energy has been invested in Human resource especially through trainings and formal education.
Museveni also challenged communication service providers to give cause why it is still very expensive to communicate especially across borders yet all avenues have been put in place to make communication more cheaper and very affordable by all.
He said electricity would become very cheap once the construction of the Karuma, Ayago dams which will generate 600mega watts are completed.
On the field of transpoet, Museveni said the Railway line construction was in process and the UPDF brigade had been assigned the duty to oversee the construction of the line.
He emphasised that investors should not be given hard time trying to set up businesses in the Country. He said approval or rejection of an investment appraisal should not take more than 3 working days.
Agricultural modernisation has been given priority and that the NAADS programme is going to be reorganised to help all farmers access government assistance aimed at improving agriculture.
He said over fishing especially on Lake Victoria had affected the agricultural industry. He said about 21 fish factories had closed business due to operating below target as a result of decline in fish production. He called upon all Ugandans to ensure that the habit of overfishing ends and the small fish is let to grow and lay eggs.
On the state of the economy, Museveni said the Country was on the right truck. He said the GDP had risen to 5.1 %, inflation rate had reduced to 3.6%, Foreign exchange reserves had risen to $3.3billion, Export earnings had gone up to $4.9 billion, remittances from abroad stand at $6.67billion. The general GDP figure stands at shs.54 trillion or $20.2 billion.
He blamed the inflation rate that hit the country two years back to Anti-NRM activists who were always failing government programmes.
He assured the Nation that all corrupt officials will be dealt with in the appropriate ways. He said he is the expert in fighting corruption, forcing the members present at the address into laughter.
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