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On Tuesday 9th May 2023, Ms. Hellen Seku, the head of the National Resistance Movement’s (NRM) movement Buganda for Museveni (BM7) and the youth leaders from Buganda sub-region, met with President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. The discussions held at State House Entebbe, centered on the potential of the NRM party in Buganda as well as issues that require immediate action, if the party is to increase its popularity in the area.

The difficulties included several taxes on low-income traders, bad roads, poor Parish Development Model (PDM) implementation, Emyooga, and other government programs to reduce youth and women’s poverty.

Also brought up was the coffee problem, where 2,500 growers in Masaka lost their seedlings. It should be noted that the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and the owners of coffee nurseries were at odds last month over UCDA operations in Masaka City, where millions of dollars’ worth of coffee seedlings were destroyed after being chemically sprayed. The operation was allegedly intended to remove undesirable seedlings that harm farmers, according to UCDA.

President Museveni was informed by the youth leaders that the operators of the impacted coffee nurseries are seeking compensation on the grounds that the operation was not carried out in good faith and that it discouraged those promoting the cash crop in the area.

In order to minimize intermediaries in the purchase of agricultural goods, President Museveni asked the youth to actively participate in the Parish Development Model.

“We had been buying coffee seedlings under NAADS but now I started hearing that my army people under Operation Wealth Creation were unfair in distribution. There were also complaints about overpricing supplies and distributing poor quality agricultural supplies. We decided to put the money in the PDM where farmers would directly buy for themselves to eliminate middlemen,” the President noted.

He promised to deal with those misusing PDM in the same manner as he had in the Acholi sub-region, and he gave Resident District Commissioners and security personnel at all levels the responsibility of stepping up in monitoring of government initiatives.

The President instructed the youth to submit documentation in the form of a report describing the numerous taxes levied against the low-income earners so that those responsible for overcharging them might be dealt with. He claimed that in order to help low-income earners boost their household incomes, which will then increase their purchasing power and enable them to pay through consumer tax, the government removed the multiple unfair taxes.

“This is a strategy to develop our country through attracting more taxes. By interfering with this, they’re keeping many people outside the money economy who would have got some income, buy more from factories and pay taxes in a better way,” President Museveni said.

Regarding infrastructure, the President underlined the government’s commitment to expanding the road system and disclosed that work on the Masaka-Mutukula route will shortly be started by a new contractor.

The Buganda for Museveni (BM7) Movement, endorsed President Museveni as their NRM presidential candidate for the 2026 elections, was established by him at the same event.

Along with other youth leaders from the districts in the Buganda sub-region, the meeting was also attended by the Resident City Commissioner (RCC) of Kampala, Ms. Aminah Lukanga, the Presidential Advisor on Greater Masaka Region Affairs, Ms. Justine Nameere, and others.