President Museveni has pledged to improve road infrastructure in the Lango sub-region, telling thousands of National Resistance Movement (NRM) leaders in Lira City that the government would address longstanding complaints about poor connectivity.
Speaking to party mobilisers at Lango College on Sunday, Museveni said he would review proposals to create an eastern access route linking Namasale in Amolatar directly to Nakasongola.
He said it was unfair for travellers to make long detours through Lira, Kamdini, and Karuma when Kampala lay just across Lake Kyoga.
The issue was raised by the Government Chief Whip, Denis Hamson Obua, who urged the president to upgrade neglected routes such as the Dokolo–Bata–Abako–Aloe road. Obua said tarmacking the 42km stretch would boost trade, link developing ferry points at Amolatar and Kaberamaido, and shorten travel between Lango, Acholi, and Karamoja. He noted that Lango has just 5% tarmac coverage, the lowest of any region.
Museveni listed roads already completed or underway, including the Soroti–Lira highway, the Rwenkunyu–Masindi Port–Lira–Apac road, and the Bobi–Aboke road. He said the projects reflected government prioritisation and urged voters to back the NRM in 2026 to consolidate gains in security, infrastructure, and poverty reduction.
The president said Lango had endured decades of instability from Idi Amin’s regime to the LRA insurgency and warned against “playing around with peace”. He recounted opposing the 1971 coup and fleeing to Tanzania the same night, insisting Uganda had sacrificed too much to risk reversal.
Museveni also revealed that the NRM would discuss paying monthly salaries to selected grassroots leaders, though he cautioned that the party could not afford to remunerate everyone. Wealth-creation programmes such as Operation Wealth Creation and the Parish Development Model, he said, offered a more sustainable way to empower households.
The NRM’s second national vice chairperson, Anita Among, praised Museveni for restoring peace to northern Uganda and urged Lango to remain steadfast. She welcomed the increase in LC1 chairpersons’ pay and asked that they be made ex officio district councillors to strengthen oversight of government projects.
Obua said the gathering was the largest of its kind in the region and called for similar engagements in Acholi and West Nile.
He highlighted achievements, including Lira University, the upgraded regional hospital, work on Akii Bua Stadium, and progress on strategic roads.
