Despite its wealth of natural and human resources, the Busoga district is synonymous with poverty and vices such as teenage pregnancy and early marriage.
According to the Ugandan Bureau of Statistics (Uvos), Busoga is the region where most people live in full poverty cycles, followed by Bukedea and Karamoja.
This is according to the findings of a 2021-2022 study published by Vincent Fred Senono, Chief Statistician and Head of Analytics at Uvos.
The survey found that 14.5 percent of the population is “extremely poor” in Busoga, compared with 10.4 percent in Bukedea and 10.3 percent in Acholi.
“Busoga’s rising poverty level is due to population growth due to inadequate family planning,” Senono said at the time.
However, some Busoga leaders have blamed infighting and conspiracies for rising or persistent poverty levels in the region.
Former Kagoma County MP Professor Frank Nabwiso said the subregion has so far lost several projects due to infighting, including the Nagl Hospital, which should be built in the city of Jinja. but said he was taken to Jinja City instead. Kampala.
It is said that Jinja mayor Mohammad Bhaswari Khezala and then district chairman Hannington Basakana started a fight over the construction site, he said.
“After going to Beijing and convincing the Chinese to give them land, Mr. Kezala, who lobbied for it, wanted land in the city of Jinja, while Mr. Basakana wanted land in the Jinja region. So the government decided to take it up,” Professor Nabwiso said.
Professor Nabuwiso said elsewhere that internal strife is also preventing the government from taking over Busoga University formally.
He said: “The university was founded by the Diocese of Busoga, but then Bishop Cyprian Bamwose established the Busoga University Limited to administer it. ing.”
Professor Nabwiso said people are now advising the government to start running new universities rather than “waste” taxpayer money by paying loans and mortgages.
The university was established in 1999 in partnership with the Busoga Diocese under the Church of Uganda.
However, in 2017, its accreditation was granted by the National Council on Higher Education (NCHE) after it was accused of lacking qualified staff, teaching creditless courses, and awarding fake degrees to more than 1,000 students. Canceled.
The university was then handed over to the Ministry of Education and Sports to facilitate its re-opening as a public institution, following President Museveni’s directive in 2018.
The university will reopen next month, according to the task force management committee appointed last June to oversee the establishment, said Prof John Tabuti, chairman of the six-member committee, in April. told the Daily Monitor in an interview with
Once operational, it will join Fort Portal-based Moon University’s Mountains, which achieved a similar milestone on July 1, 2022.
Professor Nabwiso also pointed to the annual Nyege Nyege Festival, which former Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga supported to be held at Itanda Falls against some opposition from Basoga.
Professor Nabwiso said that after the aforementioned infighting incident, Basoga will lose his job in the commercial center, his business skills and his source of income.
Jinja Mayor Peter Kasoro-Okocha said Busoga’s leaders were battling for supremacy, with one trying to outsmart the other on development issues.
“We created the Busoga Consortium, but few leaders show up because they feel they cannot steer it and lift their people out of poverty,” said Casoro. Told.
political strife
He added that dragging political differences in the fight against poverty has rather played a major role in maintaining poverty in Busogasub. In the Busogasub region, leaders from different political parties work together to win projects from the government.
Casoro further explained that leaders of both the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and the opposition have played a major role in maintaining poverty in the Busoga district. is preventing people from participating, he added.
Iganga district chairman Ezra Gabra said leaders were intervening indirectly by cutting off programs aimed at combating poverty in the sub-region from the centre.
“We had an irrigation program that allowed local people to earn income by irrigating their crops and getting water, but some leaders, I can’t name them, were finance ministers. The project is stalled because we went to the US to quell the campaign,” said Gavra.
During a recent meeting with officials in the Camry district, Kadaga expressed his displeasure with those who are holding back the Busoga subregion in their quest for hegemony.
Ms Salaam Musumba, former Kamuri District Chair and FDC Vice-Chairman (East), asserts that whenever Busoga smells of unity, a conspiracy is used to tear it apart.
She said, “Bathoga is good at being taken advantage of, just like he fought Bishop Bamwose but lost the post of archbishop.”
However, Bugabra Northern MP John Teira dismissed as “misleading” the 2019/2020 Household Survey report from Ubos, which showed that the Busoga subregion was at the forefront of poverty.
Although there is a “some level of poverty” in the Busoga district, Teira said, people still sleep in thatched houses and children suffer from nutrition-related illnesses and stunted growth in other areas. It is said that it cannot be compared with.
Basoga, he argues, is not poor, but rather a “lazy person” who spends his time improperly, gossiping, fighting with each other, and spreading conspiracies.
Teira said the 45 billion louse farming roots dubbed “Husbandry Revolution in Busoga metropolitan area” launched by Cabazinga William Nadiope Gabra IV of Busoga in 2019 at Kasolwe Livestock Farm in Barawori, Camuri District. mentioned a transformational project.
The project was designed to increase the resilience, wealth and positive livelihood outcomes of smallholder farmers along the livestock value chain, combat household poverty and increase household incomes, especially in the Busoga district. But Tayla says the conspiracy has set her back.
Biende District Commissioner Michael Kanak regretted that Biende, where many mineral and petroleum deposits are now being discovered, has yet to receive an outstanding political commitment to pave the Kamrie-Bukungu road. think.
Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) leader En Patrick Amriat last week described Busoga as “the sleeping giant of the country”, referring to Busoga’s high poverty levels.
En Amriat delivered a speech during the burial of Alice Nabgembe Ogutu, wife of former Bukouri MP and leader of the 9th Parliamentary Opposition (LoP) Philip Wafra Ogutu.
“Busoga will continue to be Uganda’s poorest people. You have the ability to rally to rid the country of this ‘nuisance’,” En-Amriat said.
Earlier, Ms. Hadidja Namyaro, special adviser to the president and coordinator of the National Chairperson’s Office of the National Resistance Movement (NRM), blamed Busoga district leaders for the continued poverty endured by residents.
concern
Namyaro, who presided over Museveni’s 2026 presidential campaign at the Kakindu Stadium, said some of Uganda’s richest leaders hail from the Busoga subregion, but locals are fighting poverty. said they remained poor because of their neglect of .
“It’s ridiculous that most of the ministers with money are from Busoga, but why do the people they lead remain poor?” Namyaro wondered, President Museveni always playing a role in enriching the people. But he added that he was “frustrated” by his leaders.
Her remarks were in response to concerns voiced by an audience expressing dissatisfaction with severe poverty levels.
Namyaro said he came to Jinja City to “rebrand” the president, whose name is allegedly tarnished by people who don’t understand the power he gives to leaders.
Namyaro said residents should prepare a report of the issues affecting them and prepare to hand it over to the president, who is due to visit the Busoga subregion soon.
Edited by Philip Wafra, Abbaker Kirunda, Tausi Nakato, Sam Caleb Opio, Dennis Edema
