President Yoweri Museveni has lifted the 6 pm curfew restrictions imposed on boda bodas (motorcycle taxis) as one of the means to stop further spread of COVID-19.
While presiding over the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) Tarehe Sita celebrations today at Malukhu grounds in Mbale city, Museveni ordered that boda bodas can resume operating normally starting tomorrow February 7.
Museveni said that he is aware that many boda boda riders are criminals, but added that he will handle them using different measures like introducing digital monitors that will help in tracking motorcycles.
Tarehe Sita celebrations were under the theme “retracing the roots of the people’s struggle for peace and security for modern Uganda.”
The president also used the same celebrations to reiterate his bid to restore wetlands, where he said that government will not use force to get people out of the swamps.
He said that he will find time and come back in the region to teach people on fish farming which he said is better than rice farming.
Museveni appealed to the people to go into fish farming, which he said, will enable them get a lot of money, but also allow the swamps to be restored with water and grass which can be used for irrigation and mulching.
Vincent Ssempijja, the minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs said that they are emphasizing the training of the UPDF engineering brigade to track the development of the national projects.
He said the activities that the UPDF has been able to carry out in Bugisu and Sebei regions have received overwhelming support from the masses and are good example of a milestone that the country must be proud of.
Gen Wilson Mbadi, chief of defence forces said that at house number 49, which belonged to late Maumbe Mukhwana, is where the NRA/UPDF journey started from.
He said the UPDF has effectively supported the civil authority in emergency situation and continuously kept its relations with communities alive. The effect of COVID-19 withstanding, the entire country is experiencing peace from time to time and supporting regional peace in the spirit of Pan-Africanism, he said.
Brig Henry Matsiko, the chief political commissar, said the Tarehe Sita celebrations started on the January 27, 2022. The engineers work started in December 2021 and they put up 23 projects in the region. Most of the projects were completed and handed over.
He noted that in Mbale city, the engineering brigade constructed 2 classroom block at Mooni primary school in one month, a similar structure at Bumayooka primary school in Bududa and construction of a neonatal ward at Kapchorwa hospital and in Sironko, there was also rehabilitation of a foot bridge connecting Budadiri West and East among others. URN