In his address on December 31, 2021, President Museveni reopened the economy from the two-year lockdown but bodaboda remained operating between 5 am to 7 pm.
But while presiding over the Uganda People’s Defense Forces Tarehe Sita celebrations today at Malukhu grounds in Mbale City, Museveni ordered that the boda-boda sector also operates normally starting February 7, 2022.
The Tarehe Sita celebrations were under the theme “retracing the roots of the people’s struggle for peace and security for modern Uganda”.
Museveni said that he is aware that many bodaboda riders are criminals, but added that he will handle them using different measures like introducing digital monitors that will help in tracking motorcycles..
The President also used the same celebrations to reiterate his bid in restoring the 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 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 examples of a milestone that the country must be proud of.
General Wilson Mbadi, Chief of Defense Forces said that house number 49 which belonged to the late Maumbe Mukhwana is where the UPDF journey started from. He said the UPDF has Effectively supported the civil authority in an emergency situation and continuously kept our relationship 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.
Brigadier Henry Matsiko, the Chief Political Commissar, said the Tarehe Sita celebrations started on 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 blocks 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 the rehabilitation of a footbridge connecting Budadiri West and East among others.