Alupo urges Bugiri, Namayingo residents to embrace oil palm growing

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Vice-President, Jessica Alupo, has urged residents of Bugiri and Namayingo districts to embrace oil palm growing to improve their livelihood.

Alupo says this was one of the projects designed by the Government to be piloted in Busoga’s three districts including Mayuge to tackle poverty.

According to Alupo, the project is profitable and ideal for small landholders as in an acre, a farmer was likely to reap sh2.5m in a month.

This was during celebrations of the first anniversary of East Busoga Diocese at St Stephens Cathedral, Naluwerere in Bugiri municipality on Sunday, November 24, 2024.

This is the latest diocese which was inaugurated on November 19, 2023, after being carved from Busoga with the Rev. Paul Hannington Suubi as its maiden bishop.

Alupo, who was represented by state minister in charge of general duties in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) Justine Kasule Lumumba, urged Christians to also embrace government programmes such as the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga which she said target the majority of the rural communities.

Lumumba interacting with Baalwa (L) and Suubi during the East Busoga diocesan first annivasary at St. Stephens Cathedral Waluwerere in Bugiri municipality on Sunday. (Photo by Jackie Nambogga)

Children dropping school for gold mining

Meanwhile Suubi said the failure by the Government to regulate gold mining in Namayingo district had greatly resulted into school dropouts in specific areas where the activities were taking place.

Whereas the activities were helping the communities to earn income, Suubi regretted how is was silently claiming people’s lives because of the chemicals used during extraction.

He feared that this would also fuel domestic violence since women spend all their time in mines.

“The activity is helping our people earn income but if the Government doesn’t step in to regulate it, many people will keep dying silently, school dropout and domestic violence will increase because learners and mothers spend all their time in mines since they find it lucrative and comfortable,” he said.

Meanwhile, newly installed assistant bishop of Kampala Diocese the Rt. Rev. Can. Frederick Jackson Baalwa, who was the guest preacher, commended the many successes which East Busoga diocese had achieved within a year.

He outlined the bishop’s house, construction of the vicarage, furnishing of the office and acquisition of a tractor to modernize farming in communities and above all drive unity among believers.

“We have many dioceses in our province that have existed for decades without such facilities, God is taking this diocese far,” Baalwa said.

Isaac Bwire, who headed the preparatory anniversary event, said Suubi had united all believers on top of extending church ministry nearer.

Whereas the diocese is in the final stages of generating the bills of quantity for the construction of the new cathedral, Lumumba, a daughter of the soil went ahead and spearheaded its fundraising drive at which sh61m was raised both in cash and pledges.

According to the Rev. Andrew Gulumaire, the acting ICT officer said they were expecting the budget and its artist's impression to be ready by December.