President Museveni has said it is “shameless” for any Ugandan to oppose plans by Ugandan government to build roads in Congo owing to the benefits the country is set to reap from the venture.
Museveni said those who are publicly making such statements are shameless individuals because it exposes their illogical approach to issues.
The president’s statements were part of the independence day speech he made today in State House Entebbe where national celebrations were held in a scientific manner due to limitations presented by the covid-19 pandemic.
“I saw the other day shameless people in parliament ab’enshoni nkye saying ‘why is this stupid man Museveni building roads in Congo while we have poor roads in Uganda?’ Yes, we have poor roads but also good roads.” Museveni said.
“How can you even say that? People should “balina okuppima by’eboggera baleme okuswaala”-they (MPs) should logically consider their statements before they speak; Museveni said in a tone as if he wanted the idea of roads in Congo kept as a secret.
Last year, governments of Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) signed an agreement to work together on key road network projects connecting the two countries on account of boosting trade and easing movement of people. The project will require the Ugandan government to provide about 256BN to construct more than 182KM of roads built inside the Congo.
However, the plan has since attracted criticism from a section of the public who question the logic behind funding road projects in Congo when Uganda still has many bad rods.
Museveni said in order to build the “bad” roads in Uganda, the country needs to trade with Congo as well as its other neighbors from which, the revenues will fund road projects back home.
“The roads will be made for business which will enable us to get more resources to deal with the roads that we have not been able to build.” He said before adding that Uganda government earns close to $500million on average every year from trade with Congo.
Museveni expressed fear that the statements from MPs may even annoy authorities in Congo to opt out of the deal.
“If my neighbor has allowed me and I am getting a lot of advantages from this because he still has some internal issues, and if it helps us so much, then we need it badly!It is not good. Balina Okuppima b’yeboggera baleme okuswala” he stated.
The 3 roads according to the agreement include Ggoli-Mahagi-Bunya, Mpondwe- Butembo-Beni and Bunagana-Buchuru-Goma.
Museveni said Uganda’s economic outlook is positive and the COVID-19 pandemic has helped the country to once again demonstrate the economic capacity and opportunities the country has. He said the measures undertaken to prevent further spread of the disease have helped those who could not see the comparative advantage Uganda has, to now see them clearly especially in areas of local production and import substitution.
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