President Museveni has reminisced an incident in which he nearly killed on January 22, 1973, when Idi Amin's soldiers attacked a home in Mbale town where he together with other FRONAS rebels were meeting.
Addressing a rally at Bugobero High School grounds on Thursday, Museveni narrated how Amin's soldiers attacked Jack Maumbe Mukhwana's home and later killed two of his comrades as he escaped.
"In 1973, we were in Maumbe's house. Amin's soldiers surrounded us. I jumped over the fence and started running in Malukhu housing estate," he said.
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Museveni narrated this story as he referred to the current NRM chairperson for Manafwa, Charles Walimbwa Peke whom he said featured prominently.
"Walimbwa was apparently a young boy. I didn't know him. When they(locals) saw me running, they thought I was a chicken thief and wanted to intercept me. Amin's soldiers were chasing me and firing. Danger came from Walimbwa and his group who didn't know I had a gun. When I saw two dangers of soldiers behind me and walimbwa and his group, I stopped and fired at soldiers, they all run away."
According to Museveni, while the locals led by Walimbwa ran away, so did Amin's soldiers who all feared for their lives.
He said he was later told he had injured one of the soldiers but thanked God for keeping him and Walimbwa alive.
"Unfortunately, two of my colleagues were killed there. I remembered (this incident) when I saw Walimbwa here."
The campaigns
Using the incident as his entry point, Museveni who was joined for the campaign rally by one of his daughters, Natasha Karugire, said those times were dangerous , noting that when NRM captured power, it ushered in peace.
The NRM presidential candidate said Uganda is now for the first time in over 500 years, peaceful.
He said after peace, NRM put in place several infrastructure that have spurred development, mentioning roads, railway, electricity and piped water, specifically for Manafwa district.
Museveni mentioned the Mbale to Lwakhakha, Trinyi to Busoga and Soroti to Tororo roads among others which have been tarmacked by government.
"The Nabumali-Butaleja up to Namutumba( 90km), Bubulo-Bududa circular road (28km), Mbale-Nkonjeru(20km) are lined up for tarmacking. They are under procurement as we look for contractors," he said, adding that the Mbale -Budadiri- Nalugugu is currently under construction.
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In terms of electricity, Museveni said whereas a number of sub-counties have been connected to electricity, many others are not yet connected.
He mentioned Bunyinza, Bunabwana, Busukuya, Butiru,Buta and Bukhadala as those not yet connected but said government has an elaborate plan for them.
"We know where exactly electricity is and where it is not. Those that are not yet connected will get," he said.
On health centres, Museveni said there is still a lot of work to do, as most of the sub-counties don't have these facilities.
He noted that out of the 32 sub-counties in Manafwa, two have health centre IVs and four have health centre IIIs, with 26 not having any health facility .
"We have a big plan for them. We plan to upgrade Ikaali health centre II to health centre III in Bukhofu sub-county while new health centre IIIs are to be constructed in Masaka Town Council, Buwangani Town Council, Buyinza Town Council, Buwaya Town Council, Butta, Khabutoola, Bukoma, Sibanga, Nalondo, Bugobelo, Nangalwe, Kimaluli, Buwagogo, Weswa, Butoto, Bukusu, Bunabutsale, Sisuni, Bunabwana, Makenya, Maefe, Butiru, Mayanza, Busukuya and Bukhadala sub-counties," Museveni said.
The president however reminded the population of their duty to get out of poverty, noting that government has put in place several programs, including Parish Development Model and Emyooga aimed at ensuring households create wealth.
Manafwa district's 157 parishes have cumulatively received Shs47.8 billion in PDM funds, with 47995 households benefitting.
In terms of Emyooga, Manafwa's 36 saccos with 20,062 members have so far got shs1.5 billion.
