Army Council elects new MP, President Museveni says UPDF went to South Sudan because he did not want that country to collapse

State House Uganda - News President Yoweri Museveni has said that the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) task force in South Sudan was doing well and moving ahead. He made the disclosure today in Bombo barracks while addressing the Army Council in preparation for by-election to fill a Parliamentary seat that fell vacant after the former MP, Gen. David Tinyefuza, lost it.

"I sent troops to South Sudan which is affected by a conflict. We did not want them to collapse", he said adding that the two main groups in the neighbouring country, being led by President Salva Kiir and Mrs. Rebecca Garang were with the Uganda Government.

Five names of officers were nominated as candidates in the UPDF Parliamentary by-election and the list handed over to the Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Engineer Badru Kiggundu, in line with the UPDF Act that governs elections of the Army Members of Parliament.

The nominated candidates were: LT. Gen. Andrew Guti; Maj. Gen. Joram Mugume; Brig. Jacob Musajawaza; Col. Innocent Oula and Maj. Kato Kakuru.

The President called on the Army Council to continue with the election exercise under the supervision of the Electoral Commission.

He told the military Officers that when the NRM Government came to power in 1986, the economy was down because of low revenue collection. He noted that because of that shortfall, the Government could not fulfill all the public demands. He said that Uganda's GDP then was only US$1.5 billion compared to the current figure of about US$28 billion.

He was pleased to note that the expected revenue during the 2013/14 financial year is Shs.9,000 billion. He expressed confidence that with good budgeting, the Government would achieve a lot towards service delivery.

He said that if Government reduced the cost of transport, this would go a long way in reducing costs of doing business thereby ushering in further expansion of business opportunities. He said that the move would attract more investors and create more employment avenues in the country.

He revealed that the Government took a budget decision of concentrating on infrastructure development in order to achieve the set goals.