By KT Reporter
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) presidential candidate, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, has unveiled a detailed plan on how he intends to implement his campaign manifesto, emphasizing the revival of agriculture, fighting corruption, improving infrastructure, and restoring dignity to Ugandans.
Speaking on Mighty Fire FM after his evening campaign in Kitgum Municipality on Sunday, Mafabi said Uganda’s main problem is not lack of resources, but massive corruption and mismanagement that drain the national treasury. “Our budget is 75 trillion shillings. In ten years, that’s 750 trillion. Roads, hospitals, and schools each need only about 10 trillion. But every year, the same problems remain. That means there’s a pipe swallowing our money, and that pipe is corruption,” Mafabi said.
Mafabi said his administration will recover at least 10 trillion shillings annually lost to corruption, which he plans to reinvest directly into villages and productive sectors. “If I stop the theft, I’ll have 10 trillion saved. We have 72,000 villages in Uganda. I will give each village 100 million shillings, that’s 7.2 trillion, and still remain with a balance,” he explained.
He cited the use of big billboards by President Museveni as one of the ways of corruption and wastage of resources. “Why would he bring billboards? Why would he bring posters? Why would he bring T-shirts?…all this money, which is about maybe 500 million, which is spent on advertising himself, when he has been around for years. Who doesn’t know him?”
“If that money was brought here for these mamas and men doing small businesses, it would have more impact,” he added. He said that once corruption is curbed, taxes can be reduced and the economy will grow because more people will be in the tax net, paying less, instead of a few paying more.
“If taxes are fair, compliance will increase. When sugar is cheap, everyone buys it. That’s how you grow the economy,” Mafabi noted. A key pillar of Mafabi’s manifesto is reviving Uganda’s agricultural sector through cooperatives and marketing boards. He pledged to restore institutions like the Cooperative Bank, Produce Marketing Board, and Cotton and Coffee Boards, which he said were essential to rural prosperity.
“Northern Uganda has the most fertile land. We shall revive cotton, the white gold, and rebuild cooperative unions like the West Acholi Cooperative Union. Farmers will take their produce to silos, get warehouse receipts, and access credit through cooperative and agricultural banks,” he said.
He added that 10 percent of the national budget will be allocated to agriculture to ensure production, storage, and market access. Farmers will also be insured against losses, while post-harvest facilities will be established to reduce waste. Mafabi criticized the current pay disparities between science and arts teachers, saying all teachers deserve equal and fair salaries.
“A mathematics teacher teaches in English because they were taught by an English teacher. How can one be paid more than the other?” he asked. He promised to improve teachers’ pay, provide housing, and introduce a national school feeding policy so that “no child studies on an empty stomach.”
“Eighty percent of our children drop out before Primary Seven because they go to school hungry. Every Ugandan child deserves a meal and an education,” he said. Mafabi said his government would upgrade all regional referral hospitals into national hospitals and equip them fully to end medical tourism.
“We have Ugandan doctors treating people in South Africa and Kenya. We’ll pay them well and equip hospitals so they serve our people here,” he promised. He blamed the increasing number of mental illnesses on economic hardship, leading to depression.
“Gulu Hospital, many years ago, in a year, it would have between one to five mad people. Right now, you have 700 mad people per month. That shows this madness is coming as a result of hunger, of trauma, of hard life,” Mafabi said. He also pledged to support boda boda riders by reducing the cost of motorcycles to 2 million shillings, payable over five years, saying the youth transport sector is vital to local economies.
“That means repaying 400,000 shillings a year, or 1,000 shillings per day. So that they also grow to a taxi, a lorry, and end up being given government contracts because their business is transport,” he said.
According to Mafabi, bodabodas are getting motorcycle loans of 5 million and repaying at 9 million because of heavy taxes and corruption.
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