This archive report was first published on 28 October 2019.
On October 27, 2019, President Yoweri Museveni visited the Kibuye and Katwe settlements in Kampala, Uganda, to meet with ghetto youth and commission the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM) youth camp office.
During his visit, the president launched a savings and loan initiative for the youths living in the two slums, stating, "The office will be a registration point for SACCOs and will make it easy for us to support the youth in their different productive groups," as reported by the Daily Monitor.
Mr. Museveni also met with local artiste Catherine Kusasira, appointing her as his advisor on Kampala Affairs, and singer Mark Bugembe, popularly known as Butcherman, as his presidential envoy on Ghetto Affairs.
However, opposition politician Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, has dismissed the president's visit, claiming that he has impoverished the ghetto for 34 years and is now appealing for support. Mr. Kyagulanyi stated, "For 34 years, this man impoverished, marginalised and ignored the ghetto people. He evicted them from their land. He didn't care about their health, their education or their lives. He over taxed them, tortured them and killed so many of them. He thought the ghetto didn't matter," as posted on his social media platforms.
Mr. Kyagulanyi, who has declared his interest to challenge the veteran leader in the 2021 elections, further stated, "He (Museveni) first dismissed us. But we persisted. He threatened us. We stood firm. He bribed some ghetto people but the ghetto youth stayed on course. They asked me to continue shaking the tree, because that is the only time they saw government coming to them. Having failed in all his schemes; very scared and desperate, President Museveni now returns as 'Man of Ghetto.' The sheer lack of shame! I can assure him that the authentic ghetto people will not permit him to mock them," as posted on his social media platforms.
