By Frank Kamuntu
It was pomp & glamour yesterday as bazzukulu coordinators under the Office of National Chairman led by their hard-working chief muzzukulu Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye shared once again a thrilling evening with their boss/jajja HE Yoweri Kaguta Museveni at State House Nakasero.
For starters, the ONC is primarily mandated to protect the votes of the NRM presidential candidate at every national election, in addition to other roles under the guidance of the National Chairman who is Museveni himself. The office is currently managed by the Senior Presidential Advisor in charge of Political Affairs, Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo.
During the meeting, the NRM National leader gave an opportunity lecture about the necessity of several government programs on Wealth Creation for Social Economic Transformation and other issues of National importance.
The need to enhance the contribution towards implementing the Parish Development Model, Emyooga and other government programs centered HE Museveni’s teaching, urging the ONC to ensure their smooth implementation and inclusiveness of all the peasants at the parish.
Museveni noted that Ugx 100 million extended to each parish as a soft loan payable within 24 months, has a multiplier effect that can benefit 450 persons within a parish at least after 5 years and thus a viable approach to uplift peoples’ livelihoods. In the recent FY 2024/25, the PDM was allocated 1.007 trillion shillings for disbursement at the 10,717 Parishes in Uganda.
The 2026 presidential candidate ‘as a must’, acknowledged the concern of the lack of jobs for the youth and cited commercial agriculture, as a core sector among the four (s) wealth creation avenues of the government to create jobs and wealth for the youth. He asked the participants to shun sleeping (okulambala) and refer to the Nyakana model of Wealth Creation using one (1) acre of land and Irumba Model using three (3) acres to generate income while employing over fifteen (15) persons.
He also noted that mobilization is about “okukyeenura” meaning peoples’ needs that can be solved and waking up people to differentiate the good and the bad. “Parish Development Model is rain that covers every part of Uganda”, stated HE Museveni in part of his teaching.
The President upholds his faith that mobilization is realized only when peasants are transformed to a modern society where they can access quality education, healthcare, and clean water among others.
The National Chairman challenged his youthful bazzukulu-coordinators to utilize their youthfulness to establish and transform their livelihoods as he did in the 60s using his savings as a part-time teacher to procure land in Rwakitura where he settled his family and demonstrated to the community how to adapt to yielding methods of agricultural farming.
He further re-echoed the need to ensure that children of the peasants have free access to Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) without any frustration of payments usually called for by the teachers to achieve the mass education goal as set by the NRM government.
In other significant matters, the National Chairman NRM advised his mobilization to be careful about the evil of money and not to fall victim to the rampant corruption, on which he set all the necessary resources for its eradication.
The coordinators in their remarks praised Hajjat Namyalo’s uniqueness in the mobilization sector citing the transformation of livelihoods of groups of PWDs and Women in Busoga Sub-region through her empowerment approach(es) of assisting the poor to cultivate their land for commercial agriculture, poultry projects for income generation.
Hajjat Namyalo thanked the National Chairman NRM for the continuous guidance he gives to the country, especially the bazzukulu and brought to his attention the delayed compensation for the land owners sitting the Karuma hydro-power project despite the initially communicated plan to pay off all the affected persons before the commencement of the project. Over fifty (50) victims jointly petitioned to court of law for the government to clear their demands which is risking the success of the project implementation.
She equally informed the National Chairman about the request from the Business Community in West Nile and Greater Mbarara to have an engagement with him to discuss pressing issues necessary for enhancing wealth and job creation agenda.
