By Frank Kamuntu
Rakai: National Resistance Movement (NRM) party presidential candidate, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, yesterday extended his campaigns in the Rakai district in the central region. He addressed NRM leaders and party flag bearers from districts of Rakai, Lyantonde, and Kyotera in a bid to seek support from the area.
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Mr. Museveni continued to enjoy massive support in the border district which support dates back to 1986 when the NRM had just captured power. Rakai at the time was massively hit by the HIV/AIDS scourge, with many families affected. Children as young as five were left without parents and in charge of their younger siblings.
It took the relentless intervention of President Museveni who refused to shy away from speaking against the deadly disease, for the people to accept to test and begin treatment. Uganda’s story of HIV/AIDS has since shifted from despair to total success, making the country a model for the world to learn from how to deal with the disease.
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Rakai, a district in the central region (Buganda), has a total number of 67 parishes, 11 sub-counties, and 545 villages.There has been a social and economic transformation in the district since the NRM government took over power in 1986.
In health, the Rakai district has 33 health center II, 8 health center III, 1 health center IV, and one hospital. The construction of a health center III in Kiziba Sub County by the government is at the completion stage.
The local governments of the greater Masaka area are expected to construct at least 71 water collection points in the Rakai district. The government’s target is to raise coverage to reach 100% starting with the current strategy of providing every village with at least one safe water source.
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However, using the Conditional Grant under Central Umbrella (Greater Masaka), the government is undertaking rehabilitation and extensions on Kamuzinda Piped Water Supply and Sanitation facility serving 1,500 people and 7 villages in Rakai District.
Other on-going water projects in the district include the construction of the Buyamba Piped Water Supply and Sanitation system in the Rakai District, completion is substantially at 99% with water flowing and also Kifampa-Kibale in the district is still under design.
The planned water projects in Rakai include the construction of Greater Rakai Piped Water Supply and Sanitation System (Rakai, Nsaro, Rumbugu, Bilabago, Buyamba, Rwanda, Dwaniro, Byakabanda, Kamukala, and other en-route Rural Growth Centres (RGCs).
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In the infrastructure, the government has undertaken the project to upgrade Ntutsi–Lyantonde–Rakai road (105 km).
Rakai district also has a total number of 11 sub-counties of which 10 are connected to power and one without power, the extension of Electricity is Ongoing in Kibanda Sub County.
In education, the district has a total number of 121 government primary schools with an enrolment of 67,216 pupils and 209 private primary schools with an enrolment of 28,098 pupils. All the 67 parishes in the Rakai district have a government primary school.
In secondary, Rakai has 10 government-aided secondary schools with an enrolment of 3851 students and 15 private secondary schools with an enrolment of 1839 students. Currently, only Kakyera Sub County has no government secondary school but the government is constructing a seed school in the sub-county.
Since the inception of the Women Empowerment program, a total of 605 Projects worth Ushs3.501billion have been financed in the greater Masaka Sub Region with Rakai having 65 projects funded benefiting 792 women.
In the youth livelihood program, a total of 1,225 projects worth Ushs 9 Billion have been funded in Masaka Region. Rakai itself has a total of 153 youth projects funded by the government.
