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Terehe Sita: Locals urge Museveni on unfulfilled pledges
President Museveni. PHOTO | PPU
What you need to know:
- Mt Elgon sub-region was selected to host this year’s celebrations and the main ceremony will take place at Malukhu in Mbale City on February 6, with the President expected to be the chief guest.
Residents and elders in Bugisu have appealed to President Museveni to use the Terehe Sita celebrations to address some of the unfulfilled pledges and other issues affecting the sub-region.
Mt Elgon sub-region was selected to host this year’s celebrations and the main ceremony will take place at Malukhu in Mbale City on February 6, with the President expected to be the chief guest.
Tarehe Sita commemorates the attack on Kabamba Barracks by the Museveni-led National Resistance Army (NRA) rebels in Mubende District on February 6, 1981.
Mr Steven Masiga, a researcher working with Makerere University, Mbale Branch, said Mr Museveni should pronounce himself on the issue of having a public university for Bugisu.
“This is overdue. All operationalised cities have public universities except Mbale,” Mr Masiga said. He explained that a public university will help in fulfilling Uganda’s Vision 2040 since skills lead to upward labour mobility and access to tertiary education.
Mr Masiga, who also works as communication officer for Bamasaba Cultural Institution, said President Museveni should offer guidance on the issue of parallel cultural heads.
Parallel cultural leaders
“The issue of gazetting the rightfully elected Umukukha has stalled for two years now and it’s causing insecurity and undermining development and unity in the region,” he said.
The institution, which started in 2010, currently has two parallel heads, who were elected by parallel factions. All previous attempts by the government to mediate in the row have not yielded positive results.
Mr Jackson Wosukira Mashate, the minister of information in Bamasaba Cultural Institution, said President Museveni pledged 205 cows to the clans but they have never received them to date. “President Museveni pledged 205 cows to clans in Bugisu and official cars to the cultural institution but nothing to date,” he said earlier this week.
Mr Paul Magomu, one of the elders and a resident of Bulweta Village in Bukonde Sub-county, claimed the President has forgotten the role played by the people of Bugisu during the Bush War. Mr Magomu reminded President Museveni of how he was saved by the Bamasaba people from the Amin’s soldiers.
On January 22, 1973, President Museveni narrowly survived being killed after Amin’s soldiers surrounded the house, where he and his colleagues were residing on Plot 49, Malukhu Estate in Mbale City during the guerrilla war.
The residents also demand for, among other things, a ministry responsible for Elgon affairs, a regional disaster management centre, development of tourism centres, more district hospitals and ministerial posts, and tarmacking more roads.
The deputy Mbale Resident City Commissioner (RCC), Mr Robert Webale, said other pledges include seed capital for youth leaders, job placement and scholarships, which haven’t come through yet.
Mr Webale said the selection of Mbale City as a host of Tarehe Sita is a blessing to the young people of Bugisu, adding that they will use this opportunity to remind the head of state to honour his pledges.
