The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Lira, Uganda | THE IDEPENDENT | Jimmy Akena Obote, the Uganda People’s Congress party (UPC) president has slammed the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government led by President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for allegedly deliberately killing cooperative societies that played key roles in community empowerment.
Speaking to Journalists in Gulu City on Friday, Akena boasted that the UPC government led by his late father President Milton Apollo Obote promoted cooperative societies in the rural communities which, had positive economic impacts on locals. Obote was Uganda’s president between 1966-1971 and 1980-1985.
Akena noted that ever since the deliberate killing of the cooperative societies aimed towards curtailing the influence of the UPC party, the NRM-led government which took over power on January 26, 1986, has been struggling to revive the rural economy.
He cited that several ambitious poverty alleviation programs have since been initiated by the NRM government including the Etandikwa scheme, Youth Capital Venture, Operation Wealth Creation (OWC), and Parish Development Model (PDM) which he alleged haven’t yielded success.
Akena who has declared his interest to contest for Presidency on the UPC party ticket after nearly two decades in Parliament amidst internal disagreements said the UPC policies remains one of the best in improving standards of living irrespective of political ideology or locality.
The legislator also yesterday refuted claims that the UPC party and NRM party enjoys a corporation deal arguing the two political parties are different in both ideology and policies. He explained that since 2006 he has been contesting under the UPC flag against NRM party candidates which ideally wouldn’t make sense if he is part of the NRM party.
Responding to questions on whether he is capable of defeating President Museveni who has been in power for the last 39 years, Akena noted that President Museveni is not omnipotent justifying that he can be defeated.
“…He is a person. And despite the ground not being level, we’ve demonstrated the abilities i mean, there are times where we’re able to prevail but of course, it takes a lot of effort,” said Akena.
He explained that his interest in contesting is driven by the UPC party ideology that seeks to have improvement on the quality of life of all Ugandans.
“As UPC we are going to be raising concerns that affect the people of Uganda and have a honest conversation on how we can better serve the people of Uganda within our politics,” he said.
President Museveni has previously distanced his government’s role in the collapse of the cooperative societies and instead blamed politicians. Through the Parish Development Model (PDM) launched in 2022, President Museveni has boasted of the latest poverty alleviation scheme as a magic bullet to ending poverty in households at the Parish level.
The programme targets to improve the incomes and welfare of all Ugandans at the household level by transforming 39% of households from a subsistence economy to a money economy.
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