President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has pledged to establish a cocoa processing factory in Bundibugyo District, saying the project will turn the region’s agricultural strength into industrial growth and create thousands of jobs.
Addressing residents during a campaign rally on Friday, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) presidential flag bearer said the government has already secured investors to support the initiative.
“We’re going to establish a cocoa factory,” President Museveni said. “I went to America long ago and asked them to come and make chocolate here, but they refused. Now we have serious investors and we shall have our own factory.”
Bundibugyo produces more than 70 percent of Uganda’s cocoa exports, making the crop a major contributor to the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Museveni said the planned factory will help the district retain more value from its produce and serve as a foundation for an industrial hub.
“We shall not put only one factory but a town of factories like Namanve and Mbale,” he said, citing the employment created by the country’s growing industrial parks.
Museveni reiterated his position that Uganda’s job opportunities lie in commercial agriculture, manufacturing, services, and ICT, not the public sector. “There are only 480,000 government jobs yet we are 50 million Ugandans. How will those jobs sustain us all?” he asked.
He encouraged youth to embrace skills training and entrepreneurship, praising success stories from industrial hubs in the region.
The President highlighted NRM’s contributions to peace and development, noting that stability enabled Uganda’s growth. He promised to rehabilitate the aging Mubende–Fort Portal–Bundibugyo road, which is now riddled with potholes.
On social services, Museveni said Bundibugyo has 107 government primary schools and 12 secondary schools, and he pledged additional facilities so every parish has a primary school and every sub-county a secondary school.
He outlined ongoing health infrastructure upgrades and called for community responsibility in disease prevention. “Prevention is better than cure,” he said. He also warned against theft of medicines in health facilities, urging citizens to elect leaders who safeguard public resources.
Museveni urged households to adopt commercial farming models and cited farmers earning millions from cocoa and dairy farming as examples of how wealth can be created even before major infrastructure arrives.
Bundibugyo District NRM Chairperson David Kabyanga welcomed the cocoa factory plan and said assessment work had already been completed. He also reported progress in government programmes such as the Parish Development Model and Emyooga but asked for special support to repair infrastructure frequently damaged by landslides.
