by Dinah kakai
Minister Betty Amongi Akena kicks off her Political Consultations for 2026 Lira City Woman MP
The Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Hon Betty Amongi Akena, has this 16th and 17th Day of February 2024, held a successful consultative meeting with Councillors from Lira City Council, Lira City West and East Divisions, respectively, to articulate to them her Agenda as she continues to hold consultations for her aspiration for Lira City Woman Member of Parliament come 2026.
She said her focus in Lira City shall be to build Bridges and to form a powerful and unshakeable “coalition of the willing.” Which will draw broad support across party and religious affiliations.
She noted that Lira City is a business hub for the whole of Lango Sub Region and therefore, her intention is to transform Lira City into an investment and industrial hub for Northern Region, through lobbying from relevant authorities. She articulated several programmes among which includes:
Ensuring that there is affordable cheap capital for business communities as well as hustlers who have come to the city to look for means of survival which shall be executed through groups and individuals in which she intends to inject over 2billion Uganda shillings by 2026. She expounded by saying that the program is already tested and achieveable, and she believes that the initiative would help relieve many hustlers from the great burden of paying exorbitant loan interests from other money lenders or banking institutions.
Secondly, she revealed that, she knows very well that city comes with different categories of people therefore, leaders must look at integrated 360 degree packages of investment growth, economic growth and social growth not only preaching about health achievements. She added that the City has not come for only a few cligue of people but for all and it should help everyone and the surroundings adding that stakeholders should be consulted from time to time for effective and efficient service delivery. She added that nobody should lead Lira City as their personal property and persuing personal interests while causing disharmony among stakeholders. She then advised Councilors to desist from leadership of impunity, blackmail and using their positions to embarrass voters.
The Minister underscored the importance of social program interventions of uplifting the status of vulnerable people and improving on their livelihoods through skills development. She pledged her commitment to focus on skills empowerment of vulnerable people within the City in areas of bakery, carpentry, welding and metal fabrication, motorvehicle mechanics, fashion and designs, tailoring and garment cutting, hair dressing, product branding and value addition chains for agricultural products among others.
She offered to support 200 youth from Lira City with various skilling programs under Cohort 1 to attend a free-6months full-board training in Kampala, which shall be residential with free accommodation then later given start-up tools. The leaders were told to recommend the trainees.
On the private sector, the Minister pledged to support a private sector-led development approach through robust industrial growth in the city where her focus shall be to ensure full development of Lira City Industrial Park by encouraging private business people to be allocated free land in compliance with government policy, so that they can invest in setting up industries which would stimulate economic growth in the City and the surroundings.
She pledged her commitment to make Lira City a city of economic growth while marketing tourism and making Lira City an investment destination. She also pledged to work closely with city authorities to reorganize the transport system in the city as well as bus park management, among others, with the aim of expanding the city’s economic base.
She noted that Lira City is the third most industrious city in the whole country, falling only behind Mbarara and Kampala metropolitan area. She then underscored the importance of stakeholders’ engagement as opposed to castigating people, promoting maltreatment and egocentrism.
Amongi’s unwavering commitment to empowerment and improvement of livelihoods of the people of Lira City reverberated through her words, as he underscored the importance of supporting business communities and private sector because they are the engine of economic growth in the City.
She then thanked the business community for building the city by themselves through the expansion of productive activities, trade improvement, agricultural value addition activities, real estate development, and promoting the Public Private Partnership approach.
In the same vein, the super Minister, also commonly known as the economic temper woman, fulfilled her pledge of supporting LC I SACCOs of both East and West Divisions with 20,000,000/=, each Division receiving 10,000,000/=.
Amongi is continuing with her consultations in the next three consecutive days to market her candidature for Lira City Woman MP come 2026.
