President Museveni has rallied youths to hold their leaders accountable and demand what is meant for them.
According to the president, the problem of the ghetto people started when the educated people (elite) failed to deal with the uneducated although also the uneducated have had their weaknesses like the failure to hold their elected leaders accountable.
He said on top of the government workers like the chiefs who existed during the time of the British (colonialism), when the NRM government came to power, they decided to add on leaders elected by the people from Local Council 1 up to LC.5 (district level) including a woman member of parliament for each district to fill the gap in case the government chiefs failed to perform their roles.
“When we were preparing, I said, you people, to defend the people, we must add another structure, these ones should be elected by the people themselves so that the people’s delegates are there to monitor and hold the government accountable. That is why we created the LCs and MPs
to be elected by you people. As people who have power in your hands, why do you go on to elect useless people,” he wondered.
The president was on Wednesday meeting with leaders of Kampala ghetto youth saccos at State House in Entebbe.
“But also, the wananchi, including the ghetto people, why don’t you use the weapon which we gave you to deal with the people who don’t work for you? The gun we gave you is that of electing the people who speaks for you if they don’t speak for you, bring them back. We removed the monopoly of power from the administrators and gave you the power to vote your own leaders who speak for you. They even join corruption, and you don’t follow them up. Why don’t you bother to find out? If we bring programs and you don’t follow them, whom do you blame?”
The calls comes at a time when youths have since last week organized protests against rampant corruption in the country.
In the protests in which youths seek to march to parliament to show their dissatisfaction, they also demand the resignation of Speaker Anita Among and the four back bench commissioners they accuse of orchestrating corruption in the country.
They also demand that salaries and allowances for Members of Parliament are reduced.
However, the protests have been met with force by police which arrested over 100 of the participants.
