KAMPALA — The National chairman of the NRM party’s Entrepreneurs League, Dr Robert Mwesigwa Rukaari has Monday afternoon been officially nominated to contest for the party ticket for Member of Parliament for Mbarara City North.
Rukaari, who is a member of the party’s Central Executive Committee joins the race against Michael Tusiime, the current MP for Mbarara Municipality.
After Mbarara became a city, two constituencies of Mbarara South and Mbarara North were formed, effectively pitting the two former allies, who happen to be neighbours, against each other. Rukaari in the last election sponsored Tusiime’s candidature.
The businessman is currently the president of the Uganda National Chamber of Trade and Investment, a private organisation that rallies Small and medium Enterprises to spearhead economic transformation in the country.
Upon his nomination, Rukaari took to his social media to rally support from his intended constituents, pledging to empower women and youth in Mbarara to lead the anti-poverty fight.
In an interview with PML Daily after his nomination, Rukaari said he intended to set a firm foundation on which the new city should develop.
“In the NRM we believe that bad leaders create bad systems while good leaders create good systems and strong institutions that live and stand the test of time even when the leaders leave. It is against this background that I offer myself as a leader in the newly created Mbarara City, to offer leadership that will create a solid rock on which our city will stand,” Rukaari said, adding: “As we vote, let us do so not for ourselves but for the future generations. Our children and grandchildren should look back and be happy about the choice of leaders we make as we begin building our city.”
Full text of Rukaari press statement
===================================
Good evening my fellow Ugandans, and especially my people of Mbarara.
In the NRM we believe that bad leaders create bad systems while good leaders create good systems and strong institutions that live and stand the test of time even when the leaders leave.
It is against this background that I offer myself as a leader in the newly created Mbarara City, to provide leadership that will create a solid rock on which our city will stand. As we vote, let us do so not for ourselves but for the future generations.
Our children and grandchildren should look back and be happy about the choice of leaders we make as we begin building our city.
I stand for MP Mbarara North in order to offer them same leadership I have been offering at national level back at home. I have a proven track record of leadership in business and at the highest decision making level of the ruling NRM party.
Mbarara City needs a good political direction with a leader that has proven skills to stir the city in the right direction. I have this proven record having served in various party positions since 1990.
I have a proven record in empowering our people through education, Skilling, and mobilisation to be in charge of their destiny.
Like in the NRM party where I am a national leader, my emphasis in leadership will be developing our people as a resource for the city to grow. I will do this through promoting education (UPE, USE,), and tertiary education, skills development, grass roots mobilisation to raise political consciousness, organising the people of Mbarara for household wealth creation under the established government programmes like operation wealth creation-OWC and the Parish Model.
I pledge to live by the mission of the NRM to; Transform Uganda from subsistence peasant based pre-industrial society into a modern prosperous and industrialized society that is united, democratic and secure in a Pan-Africanist framework.
To realize my vision for my people in Mbarara, I will use the following programmes as my tools which I have been implementing as a business leader and a national leader;
1. Linking our farmers to national and regional markets
2. Skilling youth and women
3. Business and entrepreneurship development
4. Business incubation
5. Developing Agro industry – agro processing and value addition
6. Sports development
7. Communication and information
8. Tourism development
9. Lobby for government development programmes and infrastructure
10. Business hub already at Ankole Mall
11. Support our people to access affordable financing from development partners such as the UN, Stanbic and the Micro Finance centre.
This is a new chapter, For God and my country
