President Museveni has urged residents of Ntungamo District to shift their priorities from demanding more tarmacked roads to focusing on building household wealth, saying poverty--not infrastructure--is the biggest obstacle to meaningful development.
"When I am at the tarmac yet with no source of livelihood, that doesn't help. As the people of this land, we start with wealth creation," Museveni said while addressing a fully packed rally at Kyamate Secondary School.
He encouraged families to adopt irrigation and boost agricultural productivity, stressing that government jobs are too few to employ everyone.
Museveni warned against bribery in recruitment and urged citizens to report officials who solicit money.
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"At the district, there are a few jobs. But I hear that people pay to get those jobs. Why don't you give me evidence and I arrest them and send them to Luzira?" he said.
Residents also raised concerns about the poor state of the Ntungamo-Rukungiri road. Museveni criticised the Ministry of Works and Transport for what he described as reluctance to address the growing road network challenges and promised improvements.
"Ntungamo-Rukungiri road is old. We will work on it. Those who should work on it don't care because even when I was previously here for PDM, it was very terrible," Museveni said.
NRM Ntungamo District Chairperson Janet Kataaha Museveni highlighted the impact of extra fees in UPE schools, saying such charges hinder access to free education for many children.
Speaker of Parliament Anita Among praised the ruling party for restoring peace and improving infrastructure across the country.
"We used not to sleep in our houses, but now we have total peace in northern and eastern Uganda," Among said.
With the party targeting a 99 percent victory in the 2026 elections, NRM leaders urged residents not to take support for granted but to mobilise every eligible voter.
"It's important that every household is mobilised so each eligible voter comes to cast their ballot on voting day. We should aim for 99 percent this time round," Janet Museveni said.
