President Museveni has explained that achieving peace in Karamoja sub-region didn’t come on a silver platter as it faced resistance from many people.
Museveni who was speaking as he campaigned at Lomukura Primary School Playground, Kotido town council in Kotido district on Monday used a simple household analogy to explain his position.
“Fire is very important — we need it for many things like cooking — but it must be kept in the fireplace,” he said, warning that when fire is taken out of its proper place it becomes dangerous.
“You can’t say you want to allow hot charcoal on the bed or in the sitting place. I told them fire is very important because we need it for many things like cooking but must be in the fire place. If it goes out of the fire place, then it becomes very dangerous. You cant say I want to allow hot charcoal on the bed or in the sitting place.”
He said some sections of public told him maintaining guns was necessary to deter cross-border raiders such as the Topotha, Pokot, Turkana and fighters from Somalia.
Critics, he said, justified arms on the basis of a “balance of terror”.
“Some people were saying we can’t remove guns from Karamoja because of the Topotha, Pokot, Turkana, Somalia and that we had to maintain balance of terror in that if they kill us we kill them. I told them I want to go to heaven . As a leader if I allow you say stay with guns and kill one another, what do I tell God? I said bring guns I will defend you against Turkana, Topotha etc and will deal with them.”
Museveni also revealed that while he fought cattle rustling, some army officers didn’t want the vice to end since they were profiteering out of it.
“Within the army, there was a criminal racket. The ones who were stealing cows and selling them for business. The cows would be stolen here and taken to Kalerwe(in Kampala) and sold cheaply. Those karachunas were brought to me and told me they wanted to surrender but army elements didn’t want them to because they were doing business,” Museveni said.
He said because of selfishness of some individuals in the army, many Karamojong Karachunas were killed but said when he got a few of them( Karachunas) , they narrated to him everything and this way he was able to deal with the crime.
“I thank peace groups in Karamoja who helped so much. You can now see the peace. It is not only in Karamoja but the entire Uganda.”
Museveni said because of peace , Karamoja’s development has been catapulted, mentioning electricity, roads , health facilities and clean water which have been extended to the sub region.
“We have been able to bring electricity all the way from Soroti which wasn’t easy. We didn’t have money that time and had to use prioritization. This is what people don’t understand and want to do many things at ago yet NRM does things in one by one makes a bundle. That’s how we have been able to bring electricity even up to Karenga. You need to emphasise prioritization. We the bush fighters sometimes get problems with civilians who touch many things at a time,” he said.
“Karamoja now is going to be an industrial centre of Uganda. We are going to have another cement factory. These are being started by the private sector. They are being done by foreigners after realising the potential which was not being exploited which is the market of Uganda. Ugandans buy cement and other products plus neighbours. We supply them and get a lot of wealth.”
He however urged the local population to get involved in wealth creation.
“Don’t deceive yourselves by talking of electricity and tarmacked roads without wealth and think you are solving problems of your family. Even in Kampala with a lot of tarmac and electricity there is poverty when people don’t listen to what we tell them to use development to create wealth for themselves.”
He urged Kotido to vote NRM in the 2026 elections to protect the gains it has achieved in the last five years or so.
