President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has defended the National Resistance Movement (NRM) record on economic transformation, saying Uganda has shifted from heavy import dependence to domestic production, manufacturing and wealth creation.
Addressing thousands of supporters at the Makerere University Business School (MUBS) grounds in Nakawa Division on Wednesday, January 7, 2026, President Museveni said industrialisation and job creation remain the strongest justification for the NRM’s bid for another term.
“Somebody told me yesterday that if you went to the supermarket today, you would find that 65 percent of the products are made here. In the past, 95 percent of the products in the supermarkets were imported,” President Museveni said.
He said the growing presence of locally made goods reflects structural economic change and dismissed claims that the NRM has failed to transform the country.
“Those saying that the NRM has done nothing deserve hell,” he said, accusing critics of hypocrisy and ignoring visible progress.
The President highlighted manufacturing and artisanship as major drivers of employment, citing industrial parks as evidence of economic growth.
He said Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park hosts about 75 factories employing nearly 12,000 workers, while Namanve Industrial Park accommodates 273 factories with more than 24,000 employees.
“That area was a forest, and that’s where they used to throw dead bodies during the Idi Amin regime. But now it’s all full of factories,” President Museveni said.
He argued that wealth creation, not infrastructure alone, sustains national development.
“The NRM from the 1960s clarified that you can have roads and schools, but if you are not rich, you will retard and eventually collapse,” he said.
President Museveni said wealth and jobs are generated mainly through four sectors: commercial agriculture, manufacturing and artisanship, services, and information and communications technology.
“If you engage in commercial agriculture, you will create wealth and jobs,” he said, noting that services such as transport and entertainment also contribute to incomes and employment.
On ICT, he said technology allows Ugandans to work for global companies without leaving the country.
“You can be here in Nakawa and work for companies in America, and they pay you here,” he said.
To demonstrate the potential of agriculture, the President outlined a four-acre farming model that combines coffee, fruits, livestock and food crops, supplemented by poultry, piggery or fish farming.
He cited Johnson Basangwa of Jeka Poultry Farm in Kamuli District as a success story.
“Basangwa was a poor man in 2007,” President Museveni said. “Now he is a very rich man, but he has also created 300 jobs.”
He said Basangwa produces about 2,500 trays of eggs daily, earning roughly Shs7.2 billion annually.
President Museveni also cited his Baralegi farm, saying a single fish pond earns him about Shs100 million a year.
On government financing programmes, he traced the evolution from Entandikwa to NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation, Emyooga and the Parish Development Model (PDM), while acknowledging challenges of corruption.
“I started to hear people saying beegabira bokka,” he said, referring to officials accused of sharing funds among themselves.
He said the PDM was designed to send money directly to communities through parish SACCOs and urged voters to elect leaders who protect public resources.
“The money for PDM and Emyooga has been coming, but it has been stolen on the way,” President Museveni said.
On health services, he said Kampala’s divisional hospitals were meant to reduce congestion at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
“The idea was that no first-time patient should go to Mulago at all,” he said, urging voters to elect NRM leaders to follow up the policy.
Addressing compensation concerns for former Nakawa–Naguru estate residents, President Museveni said he would engage Parliament to resolve the matter.
Maama Janet Kataaha Museveni thanked Nakawa residents for turning up and urged them to translate support into votes.
“Attending the rally is not enough. We must remember that our vote is important,” she said. “Your vote is your personal brick that you put on the building of Uganda.”
NRM First National Vice Chairperson Alhajji Moses Kigongo called for unity and discipline during campaigns.
“We need to win and win highly without any complaint,” he said, urging supporters to avoid insults and preserve harmony.