LIRA CITY – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has declared that peace remains the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government’s foremost and most critical contribution to Uganda, serving as the indispensable foundation for all national development.
Addressing a gathering in Lira City Golf Course on Thursday , the President stated emphatically that the peace established by the NRM should never be taken for granted or threatened. “Peace is the foundation of everything, and no one should dare disturb Uganda’s peace,” President Museveni asserted.
He drew a direct line between sustained stability and the nation’s flagship projects. “Because of peace, development followed,” he said, citing examples where past instability hindered progress. “The Chinese offered to build Namboole Stadium in 1968, but there was no peace then. Under NRM, Namboole was built.”
The President listed current and future projects made possible by the peaceful environment, including the ongoing construction of the Akii Bua Stadium in Lira, the massive Karuma Hydropower Project, and the unfolding oil and gas development in the Albertine region.
Shifting focus to wealth creation, President Museveni issued a strong caution to communities in the Lango, Teso, and Acholi sub-regions against the destruction of wetlands. He re-framed swamps not as wasteland, but as invaluable economic assets.
“These wetlands are a goldmine for irrigation and fish farming, which can deliver high yields on small land,” he explained. He pointed to the successful integrated farming model in Limoto, Pallisa District, where fish farming at the edges of wetlands supports crop production on the adjacent dry land.
The President emphasized that this approach is a core part of the government’s wealth creation message, dovetailing with the Four-Acre Model and the Parish Development Model (PDM). He stressed that true prosperity stems from tangible production, not political rhetoric.
“Jobs and prosperity come from production, not slogans,” Museveni concluded, urging the populace to embrace government programmes and utilize natural resources like wetlands sustainably to generate household income and secure the nation’s economic future.
