The findings are contained in a 2015/16 report that was handed over to Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga at the Parliamentary building by the Chairperson Equal Opportunities Commission, Sylivia Muwebwa Ntambi on Wednesday.

Hon. Rebecca Kadaga the Speaker of Parliament.

Kadaga later lamented that the report was a total embarrassment to the eastern region where she also hails from.

“This is the reason I have started giving text books to schools in Busoga to narrow the gap. We need to bring on board all stakeholders so that we reverse this trend. Children need to get quality education throughout Uganda and we need to see good results,”Kadaga said.

According to the report, the worst performing sub region primary education include Busoga, Teso and Bukedi and these are followed by West Nile, Lango and Acholi. The report mentions the best performing regions in Primary Education as those in Buganda, Ankole, Kigezi, Toro and Bunyoro.
The report further shows that the Eastern region contributes 73% of the poor performing districts of which six are in Busoga  and these include kaliro,Iganga,,Luuka ,Bugiri ,mayuge and Buyende.

It indicates that schools in municipalities perform better than those in main district local governments with performance disparity of 21% for male against 22% of female students.

The findings also reveal that districts within the northern, eastern and West Nile regions are trailing in terms of primary education performance as the chairperson Equal opportunities explains

Ntambi attributed the performance disparities in schools to  poor school inspections by districts education officials, lack of head teacher commitment ,high pupil text book ratio ,poor relationship between the school and the community and refusal of parents and the community to execute their roles in the process of educating a child.

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The President who is on a four-day working visit to promote the wealth creation campaign in the West Nile region and Northern Uganda was addressing a mammoth rally at Celecele West Village Grounds in Moyo Municipality. The President said while government has ensured that there is development including developed road infrastructure, electricity, piped water, schools and health centers, development does not belong to an individual. “If there is a tarmac road, you can’t take a mattress at night and sleep on the road and say there is development, let me enjoy it. In order for us to be benefit, we must add wealth. Wealth is in your homes. If you got cows, chicken, fruit garden, plantation of trees that is wealth. If you have a house for renting, a shop or boda boda to get money, that is wealth,” he said.

The President told the people of Moyo that when government works on development and people don’t work on wealth ‘you all are limping’. “You can’t walk properly. There is a tarmac road but people are poor in the houses next to tarmac and electricity that you can’t put in the house because there is no money to pay for it. Wealth Creation is very crucial for food security and incomes. I want projects in each home dedicated to cash. Each home must have a cash project,” he said. He called on the people of West Nile to exploit fish farming along the river valley, diary cows, poultry and fruit farming to boost their incomes.

On the issue of services, President Museveni called for an audit of sectors such as health, education, transport, banking etc to ensure proper service delivery. He called on parents to ensure that their children attain proper skills for job creation. “Children are studying English, French, literature! Which of those courses will enable them to get jobs once they finish? If you study Latin and you pass very highly, the question is who wants to use Latin? Even in Church these days they no longer use Latin. That used to be in 1960s but now they are using local languages,” he said.

The President said children must study skills courses that can get them jobs including professional courses such as book keeping, auditing, metal fabrication, carpentry, ICT, nursing or midwifery. “For example, I cant deliver a woman, I used to deliver cows, but a woman… I run away. You need a skilled nurse,” he said. The President said government intends to have a technical school per constituency and urged parents and teachers to guide their children on their career choices.

On Hepatitis B, President Museveni cautioned the people of Moyo against irresponsible behavior that can help fuel the epidemic and also called for massive adult vaccination and sensitization.
The President later contributed Shs 10million to the SACCO of civil servants and another 10 million to the SACCO of Boda bodas.

The LCV chairperson Jimmy Vukoni Okudi in their memorandum called for the remarking of the border with South Sudan, saying it has become a source of conflict. He also called on government to ensure that benefits of veterans are paid expeditiously.

The LC1 Chairperson for Celecele West Village in Moyo Municipality Tarapkwe Sarah Rose thanked the President for his good governance and for meeting the people of Moyo.
“Your achievements are great and Ugandans have benefited a lot. Thank you for your brilliant ideas and plans. We northerners have got peace and unity. We are now brothers and sisters. Your intentions to bring unity and peace with our neighbouring countries and people of Africa is great. I wish you become young again,” she said.

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While flagging off the construction of Andibo Valley Dam in Pakwach, Nebbi district Museveni cautioned people from the West Nile Sub-Region against sticking to old farming methods which are not economically productive and the bad practice of land fragmentation.

“The problem is that some people get stuck to traditional farming. In modern times, traditional agriculture is a recipe for poverty.”

Museveni advised that other than partitioning the land which they inherit from their fore fathers, the people should instead use the land collectively and share the proceeds of what they will have gained from using the land collectively.

Museveni urged the people whose land is heavily fragmented, to adopt intensive modern farming that can generate good income for their homes.

The President illustrated the beauty in modern farming by using the example of a family which chooses to plant oranges on one acre of land and can fetch Shs.6million in a year for its household income as opposed to the one that opts to plant tobacco by which a farmer can only earn a gross income of Shs.1.2 million.

“Add to that the production costs and the farmer is left with only Shs.400,000/= annually.” Museveni explained

The President also advised the  people with small land holdings to use their land creatively.

“For example if a farmer has three acres, they can grow fruits on one acre, food crops on another and pasture on the third acre for zero gazing. They could even use the backyard to keep poultry for eggs and for non-Muslims pigs and those near lakes or swamps, they can open up fish ponds.” Museveni Advised

He told the audience that with such a package of activities, a homestead can realize about Shs.50 million Uganda Shillings per year from farming.

The Shs.11.7 billion Dam that Museveni was commissioning will, on completion, be used for irrigating over 400 hectares of land in the area and will also benefit farmers in the 7 sub-counties in Nebbi district.

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The leaders including Wadri Sam, Okumu Robert and Hasan Nyenya claimed the company is only mindful of their product and not the wellbeing of the tobacco farmers .

They further argued that despite having many farmers engaged in the growing of tobacco, many such farmers cannot grow food , which exposes them to hunger and poverty.

The leaders who were meeting in Kampala yesterday called on Mps to push for the passing of the anti Tobacco Bill that will further regulate the activities of tobacco companies, especially BAT (British America Tobacco.

However responding to their concerns the company’s MD Jonathan D souza who attended the meeting dismissed their claims says that BAT has engaged in a number of initiatives like giving them loans to support the farmers.

He further notes that farming tobacco is commercial product and all those who engage in it do it voluntarily.

Meanwhile Ayivu mp Bernard Atiku  said that as leaders in west nile resolved to encourage their people to embrace other crops besides tobacco .

He said that people in west Nile have been growing the product for the last 50 have not benefited from it.

He said that they agreed that people should now consider planting other cash crops  ,because they have been exploited for long by the BAT,

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