SPEECH BY THE MAYOR OF LIRA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL AT THE OCCASSION TO MARK UGANDAS 52nd INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY IN LIRA. 52 years ago,on the 09th of OCT. 1962 a new and hopeful Nation, Uganda was born again with vast and unlimited potentials as a free ,independent and sovereign state. Ugandans in and outside the country are today celebrating this milestone and historic achievement of our nation under the theme PEACE,UNITY AND REGIONAL INTERGRATION. As we celebrate our countrys independence brethrens, it is important that we should remember and applaud the contributions of the founding fathers of our nation such as Dr Apollo Milton Obote, Benedicto Kiwanuka ,Kabaka Mutesa the 2nd , Ignatious Musaazi and others whose unity and single mindedness of purpose helped to win the independence of our country. At 52 years of independence, self rule and self determination, we as a Nation have attained the age of political maturity and we should now take full charge of our destiny,continuously asking ourselves what kind of Uganda do we want to pass to our children and grand children. At independence our fore fathers and the founding fathers of this nation identified three main enemies of the people and major bottlenecks to development. These were and still are POVERTY,IGNORANCE and DISEASE. They started a serious and protracted war against these three common enemies,laid a foundation for the sustainable development of this country. Unfortunately Uganda had to go through years of political instability, military rule and blood shed including over two decades of LRA rebel insurgency which reversed the gains and slowed our progress as a Nation. In 1986 When the NRM government took charge of this country under the command,able and visionary leadership of his excellency General Yoweri Museveni. He made a pledge to the Nation that what they were witnessing was not a mere change of guards but a fundamental which in his words would reshape and redefine the future of this country. Once again our beloved country Uganda was once again restored back to a path of political stability,peace ,social and economic progress.the senseless and destructive Northern insurgency was brought to a halt,thanks to the UPDF,our own gallant sons and daughters the Amuka Militia, the Clergy and all people of God who worked hard and prayed for peace to return to Northern Uganda. We have evidently made giant steps in the fight against POVERTY,IGNORANCE and DISEASE. The percentage of Ugandans living below poverty line reduced from 56 percent in 1992, 24.5 percent in 2010 and 19.7 percent 2013. In IGNORANCE the literacy levels in Uganda has risen and the number of learning institutions at all levels has increased. The number of universities increased from one Makerere universities to now over 10 public and private universities among other gains in the education sector not forgetting other challenges still remaining to be addressed. In the fight against DISEASE -Life expectancy at birth grew from 44 years to now 59 years .An indication of improved service delivery and standard of Living. I am not saying we should now relax and jubilate,the work is still far from over and a number of challenges still remains to be adequately addressed. We should be united and determined as a country to finish the remaining job which was started by our fore fathers. We should honestly work hard to create wealth at the household levels. We should refrain from, resist and fight the cancer of corruption which is eating our country to the bone marrow and slowing our otherwise rapid development and transformation. National Unity is so critical to our political ,social and economic advancement as a country. We may belong to different political parties, different religious denominations ,different cultural backgrounds, different Social Economic status BUT fellow Ugandans my message to you is OUT OF MANY, WE ARE ONE !. Let us accept that Uganda is our motherland and all of us can live together as brothers and sisters in the spirit of brotherhood, solidarity and patriotism. Uganda must not be a collection of many tribes but one nation, one community of people and one common and shared destiny. As a leader of the municipality of Lira, I wish to acknowledge and applaud the multiple , multi billion infrastructural investments the central government has initiated and supported in Lango such as the 40 billion investment in Olweny rice scheme, 8 billion construction in Uganda technical College UTC-Lira, 28 billion Lira main market construction now at completion stage , over 5 billion roads infrastructure development support to Lira Municipal council among others. This is a step in the right direction from government of Uganda and development partners in as far as redevelopment and rehabilitation of Northern Uganda after insurgency is concern and I still ask for more support to address the gaps caused by over two decades of war in the North. As I end my speech,I appeal to all Ugandans not only to be peace lovers but peace builders and peace keepers. I thank you for listening and I say all these FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY. MORRIS ODUNG OMARA APAKACA MAYOR LIRA MUNICIPAL COUNCIL. VICE CHAIRPERSON ,URBAN AUTHORITIES ASSOCIATION OF UGANDA U.A.A.U.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 13:27:13 +0000
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