8/12/2019 President Museveni and His Donations

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President Musevenis donations and functionality of

government systems.

Busiinge Christopher

In the Month of August 2013, President Museveni visited the Rwenzori region, particularly the

districts of !toro"o, #undi$ugyo, %a$arole and veterans were on his zero priority list& As

usual, in response to 'people(s re)uests*at every gathering that he addressed, he either gave

cash or pledged to give so+ething& e gave far+ers in puts li"e coffee seedlings, in other

places he gave +oney-real cash to .accos, and gave / 30 +illions to %iteere aste

+anage+ent plant in 4ort-Portal& Previously, the president at %aliro district head )uarters in

#usoga handed over / 20 +illions in a sac" to a youth group to which he is a patron& At

another function in 5nte$$e, the president gave / 60 +illion to A"uga$a car wash sacco&

7he list is endless&

8ritics say, in part of the president has literally carried +illions of +oney to give out to people&It

is very good to give, $ut the $ig )uestion is, where does the president get all this +oney9 Is it

healthy for the president to "eep giving +oney to whoever is as"ing for it9 7hose who support

the actions of the President, have argued that, the president gets the +oney fro+ statehouse

$udget that is approved $y parlia+ent& hile this reasoning +ight pass, it leaves a lot to $e

desired& In the first place, the de+ands fro+ the people and leaders are too +any, and will

never $e satisfied $y the statehouse $udget or $y the president(s giving&

In the recent past foreign donations have $een criticised for creating dependency, and

particularly so, the dependency of the +ind& 7he +oney that president Museveni gives at every

pu$lic function also creates dependency&

7he president(s actions of donating +oney and agricultural in puts further suggest that, he

doesn(t trust the agencies and depart+ents that have $een constitutionally entrusted to respond

to the social and econo+ic challenges that /gandans are facing& 7he other argu+ent is that

+ost +inistries and depart+ents are +alfunctional, and can not $e trusted& 7here are so+e

critics who have argued that, the president is aware that, often resources transferred $y the

+inistry of finance for e:a+ple through other +inistries and depart+ents never reaches its

target in its original a+ount, thus achieving less i+pact&

Argua$ly, it would +ean that, instead of the president ta"ing over the role of line +inistries and

depart+ents, he should $e wor"ing towards i+proving their syste+s& 7hat is if only they can $e

reha$ilitated& the )uestion is, is this in the interest of the president9 8ritics say , the donation

approach of the president is not really new, is part of the sustainance strategy to "eep hi+ in

power& ow9 If syste+s are capacitated to function well, then he will not $e relevant any +ore&

People will $e happy a$out the services, lead a nor+al life and will care less a$out the person of

8/12/2019 President Museveni and His Donations

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