Africa-Press – Uganda. Independent presidential candidate Lt Gen. Henry Tumukunde has promised to pay army veterans and soldiers once elected as president of Uganda.
He said he knows the plight of the veterans and that he has solutions to their problems Tumukunde was on a campaign trail in Kaberamaido and Kalaki districts on Saturday.
He blamed the Government for lumping people together in groups for handouts such as Emyooga, yet they may be having different business ideas. He said most of the youth were promised loans, which are also never given.
Tumukunde asked to be voted into office so that he can bring change.
“I want you to vote for alokaloka (the change that we all want),” he said.
Tumukunde said all the suffering that people have been going through was because they were voting the wrong person for president.
“Now elect someone you can call your president so that you stop begging,” he said.
He said if President Yoweri Museveni has failed to better the country for the last 35 years, there is nothing new he is going to do for the next five years.
“Even us who supported President Museveni have come out to tell you that it is now time for change,” Tumukunde said.
Clashes over venue
When he arrived at Kalaki district headquarters, he found a meeting of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) supporters going on. The NRM supporters were holding posters of President Museveni.
Tumukunde said it was not good for two different parties to use the same venue. He said it could bring clashes between the two groups.
The Kalaki district Police commander, Rebecca Ayeta Sanyu, said she did not know that the NRM supporters were having a meeting at the district headquarters.
While addressing people at Otuboi town council in Kalaki district, Tumukunde urged the Iteso to come together and vote as a block, saying they have the capacity to cause the change needed to liberate the country.
“There is no one who will liberate us. We have to liberate ourselves by voting,” Tumukunde said.
Veterans speak out
Sam Oluka, a veteran, who said he fought together with Tumukunde in northern Uganda, said they had been neglected.
Oluka said some of the war veterans were suffering and that the Government forgot about them.
Tumukunde said he was the right presidential candidate to be elected to solve the problem of the veterans once and for all.
He said having fought with the veterans and suffered with them in the barracks, he understands what they are going through and would help if elected president of Uganda.
