Op-Ed: ONC’s mobilization strategy is focused on job creation so that all Ugandans can enter the money economy

By Kintu Moses

The Office of the National Chairman NRM (ONC) Kyambogo, established under Section 14 of the National Resistance Movement Constitution holds the mandate to promote the policies and principles of the NRM among other responsibilities.

The government led by HE Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni the National Chairman of the NRM has transformed Uganda from a sick economy with a GDP of USD 1.5 billion in 1986 to USD 42 billion as of mid-year 2023. This is a great economic milestone achieved amidst worrying levels of poverty, especially among the Youth who form close to 70% of the national population.

The Gross Domestic Product is a reflection of the total output of goods and services produced by a country within an economic year and contributes to determining the country’s economic position as a low, middle, or high-income economy.

Most Government programs in addressing poverty and creating wealth are aimed to enable easy access to credit especially the Youth looking for start-up capital to create Small and Medium Enterprises for Wealth and Job Creation. Programs such as the Parish Development Model, Emyooga, etc, are aimed at collectively bringing Ugandans right from the Parish level upwards into the money economy. However, these good programs fail to achieve inclusiveness for all Ugandans due to the high level of bureaucracy designed in their management systems.

This always puts the NRM at the risk of failing to grow its support base among the young population due to the failure of the programs to address the urgent need for Jobs and Wealth Creation. The resourceful National Chairman of the NRM HE Gen YK Museveni has always come up with applicable alternatives to mitigate the challenge of unemployment among the Bazzukulu but is always frustrated by the technocrats in Government. His desire is to have every household directly involved in the production of a product or service to be able to fetch income into the household from the ready market either domestically or across borders.

Due to the failure of the technocrats within the Government who have no political ambitions, the National Chairman of NRM decided to come up with his own mobilization strategy of enrolling households into wealth creation projects, this is being done directly in the office the National Chairman of the NRM to which he has direct supervision.

Through this office, beneficiary households in a selected sub-county are empowered with full-cycle poultry projects (200 birds, chicken feeds, and vet drugs), Hybrid goats, welding machines, sawing machines, Popcorn machines, etc. The logic for the selection of the particular projects is based on their early rate of return on investment, easy management techniques, ready market, and skills of the beneficiaries.

This mobilization approach has seen the Office of the National Chairman reviving and growing the support of the National Chairman and the NRM from across the 813 sub-counties covered so far across different sub-regions in Uganda.

The non-bureaucratic management techniques applied by the ONC manager SPA-Hajjat Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye in the implementation of this project especially the inclusiveness of all Bazzukulu and Ugandans without considering their political affiliations is drawing back many hearts of Ugandans who had been decrying the segregative beneficiary identification methods used by the Government managers.

Taking an example of a Popcorn machine, a beneficiary from Kisenyi a Kampala suburb revealed that, she makes a profit of Ugx 3000 on every kilogram of corn. On a bad day, she uses 5 Kilograms of corn making a profit of Ugx 15,000 minus the costs of production.

This timely mobilization strategy is making the beneficiaries active players in the money economy while contributing to the Gross Domestic Product. These Small and Medium Enterprises have created jobs and Wealth at the household level while ensuring a steady flow of income in those households on a daily basis. This is an assurance of securing the future of the Bazzukulu and Ugandans through shared prosperity by applying sure mobilization strategies that are free from corruption, bureaucracy, and segregation of all kinds.

The Bazzukulu and Ugandans are suggesting that the National Chairman of the NRM HE Gen YK Museveni propose to the cabinet to directly fund the Sustainable Household Wealth Creation Projects under his office based on the tangible visible results from the 813 sub-counties covered so far by this project within a short timeframe. They are proposing that the large number of Ugandans left out by the Government programs such as the Parish Development Model and Emyooga can be perfectly served under the Office of the National Chairman Wealth Creation project.

This mobilization strategy has informed the Office of the National Chairman of the NRM that taking the frontline in addressing the needs of Ugandans, especially the Bazzukulu can easily restore and grow the support of the National Chairman and NRM as a party. It is also a reminder that if we use many fronts, a large percentage of Ugandans can easily be transformed into the money economy. while some will be benefiting directly from the government programs, those left out can easily be catered for through other frontiers such as the one in the Office of National Chairman.

It is therefore an appeal especially from those that have benefited before, that more resources be availed to the Office of the National Chairman to enable it to widen coverage of its wealth creation campaign.

The Author; Kintu Moses, is the Assistant Communications Officer, at the Office of the National Chairman NRM (ONC), E-mail. nkmoses7@gmail.com