President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has urged the people of Kumi District to focus on wealth creation and avoid complacency over government infrastructure projects such as roads, electricity, and water.
Speaking on Tuesday at Kumi Wiggins Secondary School grounds during a campaign rally, President Museveni said that while the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has delivered vital infrastructure, personal prosperity depends on individual effort and productivity.
“The roads are for everyone, even me as a visitor in Kumi am using them,” the President said. “But wealth or poverty is personal. That’s why the NRM government insists on wealth creation to uplift people’s lives.
Museveni warned that citizens who fail to engage in productive economic ventures become a burden to the nation since they neither generate income nor contribute taxes essential for sustaining public services. Using the Ateso term akalanyanut, he described unproductive people as “lazy individuals who stand idle while others are busy working.”
The President reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a rehabilitation and restocking program for the Lango, Teso, and Acholi subregions, under which every household will receive five cows. The initiative, he explained, aims to help families recover from cattle losses suffered during past insurgencies and rebuild their livelihoods through livestock-based income generation.
In response to local concerns, Museveni pledged to extend electricity to ten subcounties in Kumi District that remain unconnected to the national grid. He expressed dismay over Kumi’s low clean water coverage, currently at 47%, noting that only 153 of the district’s 325 villages have boreholes. This, he said, falls short compared to neighboring Ngora District’s 90% coverage.
To address the water scarcity, Museveni announced plans to pump water from Lake Kyoga to higher ground so it can flow by gravity throughout Teso, taking advantage of the region’s flat terrain.
On education, the President reiterated his strong stance against unauthorized fees in government schools, emphasizing that education under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program should remain free. “I believe in free education; that’s why we introduced UPE,” he said. “But some people started charging extra money. I’ve even started demonstration projects with free skilling hubs, one in Teso, where youth learn practical skills at no cost.”
Museveni highlighted success stories from youth who dropped out of formal schooling but are now manufacturing products previously imported from abroad, thanks to these skilling initiatives.
He also reaffirmed the government’s plan to ensure every parish has a government primary school and every subcounty a government secondary school. Kumi, he noted, currently has 75 government primary schools in rural areas and 25 in the municipality.
In the health sector, Museveni pledged to upgrade several Health Centre IIs to Health Centre IIIs and to construct new facilities in Kanapa, Kanyumu, and Mukongoro.
He further challenged Kumi leaders to provide adequate land for industrial development, noting that the 97 acres currently available are insufficient. “We need at least a square mile of land,” Museveni said, citing the Mbale Industrial Park as an example of how land investment can spur economic growth and job creation.
Concluding his address, the President called on residents to shift their mindset from dependence to productivity. “Let’s not just admire the tarmac roads,” he said. “Let’s use them to take our goods to the market and create wealth for our families.”
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