Museveni tells Dokolo to cease working for stomachs, urges support for NRM

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential flag bearer, has urged Ugandans to embrace wealth creation as a foundation for sustainable livelihoods and national development.

He made the call during his second campaign rally in the Dokolo district on Wednesday, where he addressed thousands of residents.

Museveni said Uganda’s biggest economic challenge since 2013 has been that a majority of citizens, 68 per cent, were working only for subsistence.

“If you only work for the stomach, where do you get the money to build a house? Where do you get enough money to buy clothes? That is why you hear children at night fighting for the blanket—because you don’t have enough money,” he remarked.

The President stressed that people should move beyond survival and actively participate in commercial farming and other wealth-generating activities. He noted that many families still rely on firewood for cooking and draw water from wells, yet they could improve their lives through increased income.

Museveni pointed to the government’s Parish Development Model (PDM) as the key answer to ending excuses of limited capital. He cited positive examples of individuals in the Lango sub-region, such as a farmer from Amolatar District, who have already embraced the program.

He said that even if the government maintains 100 million shillings per parish each year, by the end of five years every parish would have accumulated shs500 million to boost household incomes.

He clarified that beneficiaries of the PDM funds will not repay the government directly but will instead return the money to their parish SACCOs, ensuring the funds revolve within the community.

“Where is free money? If it were from money lenders, you would borrow one million and pay back over five million. But with PDM, after two years when you harvest, you only return one million, and the money remains in your SACCO. By the fifth year, a parish can build its own bank of up to shs500 million,” he explained.

Museveni revealed that in the next government, he has proposed an increase of PDM allocations from shs100 million to shs115 million per parish, with part of the increment reserved for leaders who previously had limited access.

He warned communities against misuse of the funds, saying, “The PDM money is your money. If anyone tries to play with it, expose them so that they can be arrested and all families benefit.”

The NRM presidential candidate further reiterated that wealth creation goes hand in hand with job creation. “If you create wealth, you create jobs for people,” he emphasized, urging households to adopt the four-acre model of farming as a practical way to improve livelihoods and provide employment.

Also read: Lango men tell what YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI actually mean

Beyond wealth creation, Museveni highlighted his government’s achievements over the past four decades in areas of education, healthcare, security, and access to markets for locally produced goods.

He said these remain priorities in the NRM’s manifesto for the 2026 general elections, assuring communities that his government’s focus will continue to be on transforming subsistence households into commercially productive ones.