KAMPALA, UGANDA:  President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea arrives in Uganda on Friday for a two-day official visit at the invitation of President Yoweri Museveni.

President Mbasogo’s visit comes shortly after United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) welcomed Equatorial Guinea’s accession to the Kampala Convention on internally displaced people (IDPs), becoming the 29th African Union (AU) member state to do so according to the UNHCR.

President Yoweri Museveni has saluted the Association of East African Surgeons for the initiative and effort to customise surgical training putting into consideration the challenges and conditions that Africa faces. He stressed the need for the establishment of continental customised surgical training.

President Yoweri Museveni has urged local leaders in Tororo District to guide wananchi to discard subsistence farming in favour of commercial agriculture so that people are economically empowered to support their families, churches and Government through payment of taxes.

President Yoweri Museveni has called on the Uganda Police Force to be more dedicated and patriotic at the execution of their duties in-order to implement their role of ensuring the security of Ugandans and their property.

“You can have technology but if you don’t have the 2 words – dedication and patriotism – especially patriotism which means loving your country and the people, then you can leave the force,” he said.

President Yoweri Museveni has sounded a strong warning to all those that are involved in soliciting bribes and other tendencies of corruption, especially from foreign investors that they will be crushed and be dealt with decisively.

“We are very ready to fight and crush corruption. If they disturb you, find a way of mentioning it to your Ambassador. He or she will whisper it to me and you will soon see the casualties,” he said.

President Yoweri Museveni has discouraged the growing of rice in swamps saying the practice endangers the environment. 

“Here’s some good news. I have been told by our friends from China that no more swamp rice. What they call swamps here is actually tributaries of the Nile. 

RWAKITURA, KIRUHURA DISTRICT: President Yoweri Museveni who is also the NRM National Party Chairman has told party members who defect following their disagreement with party structures that the cardinal role of the NRM is for mass mobilization, not to push away those in disagreement.

President Yoweri Museveni has saluted the generation of elders in the Ankole Sub-Region, like the late Yosia Kentooma, who embraced modern farming methods and also supported the liberation struggle by allowing their children to join that effort.

President Yoweri Museveni has asked tax authorities in Uganda  to stop levying tax on subsistence economies as the people doing petty businesses merely eke for a living.

“Someone is selling mangoes, roasting meat or gonja and the authorities want to tax them! Let these people earn some money and put it in their pockets. I know Ugandans very well. When they earn they go to a bar and will indirectly pay taxes from the beer they drink,” he said.

By PPU Reporter

NAIROBI. Gender equality can only be achieved if societies transform and develop, President Museveni has said. 

The President made the remarks today (Tuesday) in Nairobi, Kenya where he joined other leaders at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD 25).

The three-day conference is being marked 25 years after the inaugural summit in Cairo, Egypt that made a case for gender equality and supporting advancement of women and girls.