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Every time I walk along the banks of the Great River Nile in Jinja, I am always reminded of something my folks always say: “When the river forgets its source, it will dry before reaching the sea.”
They aren’t speaking about politics — at least not directly. But today, as Busoga once again prepares to cast its vote, these words ring with new meaning. Our river, our people, our future — all of it flows from choices we have made, and must continue to make with utmost care.
I have lived long enough to see how far Busoga has come at least for the last 30+ years. The dusty, broken and bumpy roads that once cut us off from each other are now arteries of tourism, trade and travel. Busoga is now a major tourist destination in Eastern Uganda as we witness the mushrooming hotels, resorts and tourism activities.
With 226 health centre IVs, 1,553 health centre IIIs and many lower units, I can authoritatively say there has been great improvement in health services, though the numbers are still wanting amidst the ever-growing population.
The health centres that used to run out of medicine are today fairly stocked and staffed. Our children walk to schools that have electricity, and mothers give birth in cleaner, safer wards at least for the greatest part.
For the teachers, while it is true they still earn what is comparably small in terms of salary, strides have been made to mitigate the low salaries. Already, Science teachers are smiling to the bank after government’s raise of their salaries and soon the Arts teachers will also follow suit.
None of this is perfect — we still have work to do — but it is progress we can see, touch and measure. And behind much of it stands one steady hand: “Ssabalwanyi” Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
Say what you may about him, but Museveni has given Busoga and the country generally something no other leader in the past truly sustained — stability. He may not speak our dialect, apart from the Lusoga jokes he throws around during his media pressers, but he has listened to the needs of his people.
From the Parish Development Model (PDM) to youth skilling like the Busoga Zonal Presidential Hub in Nakabango aimed at providing vocational skills to the youth to curb the high unemployment levels in the region, these programs have opened paths where there were none.
In Iganga, young farmers now earn from poultry and piggery projects. In Kamuli, women’s groups are learning to save and invest. In Jinja, small factories are rising again — quietly but steadily.
These things do not make the evening headlines, but they are the quiet revolutions of ordinary life. I know the frustrations — the youth who wait for jobs that take too long to come, the cane farmers who wish prices would rise, the traders burdened by taxes.
But even through those struggles, one truth remains: we can only build if we have peace and this, the National Resistance Movement has made great strides. And peace, for all its imperfections, has been Museveni’s greatest gift to Uganda — and most of all to Busoga. Some voices will tell us to “try something new.”
But I ask — new for what? New at the cost of the calm we have nurtured? New at the price of the predictability that allows parents to plan and children to dream? Leadership is not a gamble; it is a trust.
And trust is earned over time. When I see the young people of Busoga — bright, hopeful, determined — I want them to inherit not uncertainty, but continuity. I want them to have the time and peace to build upon what has been started.
That is why, as we approach the coming election, I say this not as a politician, but as a son of this soil: Busoga must stand up, organize, and vote for President Museveni.
Not out of blind loyalty, but out of clear- eyed gratitude — and an understanding that our story with him is not yet finished. The river still flows and it remembers where it began.
The author is a political analyst.
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