President Museveni has explained the reasons behind the high cost of living in the country currently.
Speaking during the end of year national thanksgiving service at State House, Entebbe on Friday, the president explained that the high cost of living is coming from the problem of petroleum caused by the war in Ukraine and the fight among the West and the Russians.
"There's oil but the Western countries stopped it to punish Russia and in turn you fellows get affected. But this will be solved because the fuel is there. It is just the fight among these people. For us we have been advising them quietly; talking to the Western group and also the Russians so that one will be sorted out. In fact, the price is coming down a bit. Now because of that, it affected the transport here. The bananas, although they are grown here, they need to be transported from the village to here, the prices went up," Museveni said.
The president however offered no solution to the problem.
Museveni however also assured Ugandans that despite the effects of Covid-19 that left a number of industries like tourism in shambles, other sectors like agriculture are doing well, thus urging Ugandans to embrace them to improve their livelihoods.
"Now last year, we had an issue of drought and unreliable rain and that's why we resolved that we must shift to irrigated agriculture. Agriculture not just based on rain only but also based on irrigation and there's a big movement in doing that. By using gravity irrigation but also using solar powered water pumps which we are going to spread out in as many villages as possible so that we immunize ourselves against this erratic-ness of the rain," he said.
"Therefore, I would like to encourage people not to be too pessimistic because it's not correct since I'm a wealth creator and I'm not an arm chair talker about the economy. I'm a farmer, I have bananas, I have cows, I know what is happening in the economy. Some of the sectors of the economy are doing well. For instance, people are crying about food prices, yes, they have gone up but that means farmers are getting money so that is why more people should go into farming. I hear people are coming from Kenya to buy food in Teso. They come up to the gardens to buy. So that means, there's money in agriculture. Therefore, put on spectacles to see where the problems and opportunities are."
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The president also used the occasion to warn criminals that they will be dealt with for trying to destabilize the peace and security in the country.
"There have been some crimes like attacking the police but many of them have been arrested. Some have been killed and many of them when we arrest them or they are killed, you find that somehow they are influenced by bad messages. That is why I'm thankful to people who are against people who spread bad messages. The structure in Uganda is very strong. Our security apparatus is very strong. There's no way you can go and kill people and you survive. You will not survive and I would want to appeal to those groups who mislead these young people to really stop because these young people will die. My appeal therefore is on the messaging. Listen carefully to what we say because some of us have been on this effort full time not part time for the last 62 years," he said.
On the other hand, the religious leaders prayed and thanked God for helping Ugandans to pass through the difficult economic challenges, prolonged drought among other challenges in the past one year.
