Rwakitura, (UG):- President Yoweri Museveni has vowed to involve the army (UPDF) and Local Defense Units (LDUs) to deal with village thieves who are stealing immature coffee. According to the President, this approach is beneficial for both the villagers and the thieves themselves.
Mr Museveni made the remarks while delivering the 2024 End of Year address on Tuesday evening at his country home in Rwakitura in western Uganda.
The directive follows a report he recently received from an attendee of the Advanced Military Course at the National Defense College in Njeru, based on their field research. He stated that during the research, they observed some people drying green coffee harvested prematurely.
Citing rampant petty crime, including livestock and coffee theft targeting rural farmers, Museveni said “firm legal handling of criminals is very useful.”
“When they inquired, they were told by the Wanainchi that Nibatanga Tangana, which means to compete with others to do something first. With the marijuana-smoking youth who idle in the trading centres, they are doing nothing and then stealing people’s coffee at night.”
“What are the RDCs doing? Why are they not engaging these youths to direct their efforts towards honest work? How about the police? If the concerned parties do not act, I will involve the UPDF to empower all the wealth creators, farmers, etc., to guard their property by activating the vast militia of our LDUs,” Museveni stated.
The President vowed that it will not be good for the thieves because once we arm the villagers to defend their gardens, it will not be a good situation for the thieves. Harvesting immature coffee will affect the quality of Uganda’s coffee internationally, and it is not acceptable.
Museveni also addressed the issue of rampant cattle and goat thefts, criticizing the soft handling of such criminals by the police and courts. “I have raised the issue of bails with His Lordship the Chief Justice, and I have banned the issue of Police bonds. Any police personnel that give a police bond to a village thief when the case is ready for trial, will be held fully accountable. Firm legal handling of criminals is very useful,” he emphasized.
The President also congratulated Ugandans on the good coffee prices, attributing this to the drought problems in Brazil, Vietnam, and other coffee-growing countries.
“It is our scientists who have developed these seeds, all the seeds used in Uganda. These scientists have never been under UCDA. Moreover, Operation Wealth Creation distributed more coffee seedlings than the corrupt UCDA. When I involved Operation Wealth Creation in the seed distribution in 2013, our production of coffee was 2.7 million bags.”
“It is now 9 million bags because of Operation Wealth Creation. However, we do not only talk about coffee. We do not want to see Uganda’s children walking on one leg like children do when they are playing. We don’t want to say, you do coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee only. No, that is walking on one leg,” he remarked.
Museveni concluded his speech by warning the country about the growing danger of the monkeypox disease and wished all Ugandans a prosperous 2025.
“This disease is apparently spread in two ways: contact with a sick person and through sex. The good thing is that it does not spread through breathing like COVID-19. COVID-19 was very dangerous. If you were sitting in a room with people, you could get it. But here, you need to spread it by contact. But all in all, take care,” he warned.
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