Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni has blamed the country’s past leaders and British colonialists for causing poverty in the country.
Museveni, President since 1986 said the past leaders of the country poisoned farmers’ minds on the kind of crops they should grow. He said most Ugandan farmers planted for the colonialists and not for themselves.
He said the past leaders ensured farmers in the country only worked for the stomach, while they left their pockets.
“When the colonials came here, they made our people grow the crops they wanted: cotton, tobacco, coffee, tea, and then our leaders just copied what the colonialists told them…So, when I studied the issue, I could see danger, number one was only working for the stomach.
“They (locals) must work for the stomach and the pocket. But secondly, even the ones who are working for the pocket do so without cura (calculations). That is how you get West Nile growing tobacco. If you grow tobacco on one acre, you will never get out of poverty…” he said.
Museveni, 77, said these while addressing leaders from Acholi and Lango sub-regions. He spoke to them at the Baralegi Lodge on Saturday.
“You should select enterprises which have a big demand within Uganda, Africa and internationally,” Museveni said.
He focused his speech on farming alone in a country which has its poverty line at $1.90 per day.
Museveni has spent 36 years in power, won multiple elections but has hardly developed the country from where it was in the past.