Full speech: Odrek Rwabwogo hits back at Kabanda on land grabbing allegations, prison visits

Odrek Rwabwogo, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), has dismissed accusations by Kasambya County MP Daudi Kabanda that he grabbed government land in Kiruhura District and used it for personal gain.

Kabanda had alleged that Rwabwogo obtained about seven square miles of land under the National Animal Genetic Resources Centre and Data Bank (NAGRC&DB) after convincing President Yoweri Museveni that it would host a milk factory and livestock project.

He claimed the promised investment had become a cover for other commercial ventures, accused Rwabwogo of taking grazing land from cattle keepers and alleged that farmers had gone unpaid for milk supplied to one of his factories.

In an audio response, Rwabwogo rejected the allegations, saying the Nshaara Industrial Park was established to promote agro-industrialisation rather than personal enrichment.

He said his company had invested in meat processing and coffee production, but plans for a large abattoir were slowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, a shortage of cattle and delays in securing export certification for the Chinese market. He added that PACEID continues to push for reforms that would strengthen Uganda's food certification system.

Rwabwogo also defended the performance of his milk factory in Rushere. He said the facility had bought more than Shs11 billion worth of milk from farmers over the past nine years and denied claims that producers remained unpaid.

He revealed that an intermediary who had received Shs800 million to collect milk failed to deliver after mismanaging the money, prompting the factory to start buying directly from farmers.

The PACEID chairman also responded to Kabanda's criticism by recalling an incident from 2015 when the latter was working under him.

Without naming him directly, Rwabwogo said he had recruited and deployed the politician alongside others for NRM mobilisation work before allegedly finding him days later in a hotel room with alcohol, a firearm and a woman after he had switched off his phone.

He said the incident led to his replacement and argued that a lack of ideological grounding had contributed to the current attacks against him.

Rwabwogo further defended his decision to visit opposition leaders in prison. He said showing compassion to detainees and supporting their families should not be viewed as a political offence. He maintained that reconciliation and respect for the law were necessary for Uganda's future and vowed not to stop visiting incarcerated people despite criticism.

"I wish to respond to some of the claims I have been hearing about land grabbing. I am deeply hurt because some of you do not know much about me; when you hear these ridiculous claims you may be tempted to believe them.

I wish to inform you that in the Rwabwogo family I grew up in, my mother Erina and my father Thomas were pure Christians. We never lie. God was gracious to us. He gave us life and educated us. We can never take what is not ours.

Let me start by giving you an example.

While I was still a youth, I bought land in Kakyeera, from a reputable person. 15 years later, someone called me and introduced  himself as a lawyer of a church. He claimed that I had fenced off land belonging to the church 

I was perturbed by this. I looked for the bishop (Alfred Muhoozi of North Ankole). The bishop informed me that the church had opened up the boundaries for the church land and found that some of the land was with you.

I went to the Commissioner of Lands, got surveyors and surveyed the entire land and found that there was some encroachment by up to 10 individuals including the church. Then I called the local leaders and church stakeholders and we sat down.

I got 63 acres and handed them to the church even in the presence of the person who sold me that land. I spent so much money seeking the truth without forcing the seller to compensate me. I even had a right over that land because the law says if you occupy land for 12 years you can claim it.

I tell you this not to brag but to show how Satan uses people to tell lies about others to tarnish their names. Tell me which person would surrender 63 acres of land that they acquired through blood and sweat. Some people kill each other for one acre

Another example is Maya in Mpigi where we bought 10 acres to build our home. 3 years later, my wife got a revelation telling her not to construct in that land before building the Lord’s house.

She asked me to hand over the land to God. Now God has been merciful and on August 28 my wife will ordained as a bishop on that same land 

I fear tomorrow, I fear lying, and following trends which may hurt my family.

Someone who behaves like that would never take away another person’s land.

Now I hear that at Akageeti where there is Nshaara Industrial Park which has a board with its chairperson Mr Stephen Kaboyo.

We have a company called Rise through which we are trying to set up a coffee farm. We have already set up a meat factory. I personally looked for Chinese investors. Unfortunately we looked for 150 cows to slaughter every day and couldn’t get them. Secondly, we failed to get certification from China. We were disrupted by Covid-19.

That is why we are now pushing for establishment of the Food and Regulatory Authority that can issue certification.

My calculation is that if I can get 3,000 cattle farmers, and also reduce the time the cows take to grow up and reproduce from 18 months to 12 months, we may get more cows going to the abattoir. Through this we can get 40,000 cows which we need as a buffer stock. We are pushing hard as PACEID to ensure that this industrial park works.

This is why you hear these idiots telling lies about me. Rwabwogo cannot touch what is not his.

I also wonder what these talkers are doing in their own areas. I studied this industry deeply before looking for equity investors and we set up a milk factory at Rushere. We did not ensure that children who leave school in Kampala can go back and learn along with the local farmers.

Now who loves people more? Is it a person that built them a factory or is it another who goes to the radio to hurl insults?

Through this factory, we have used up to Shs11 billion to buy milk from the people in nine years. We have now launched efforts to build a power substation in Kiruhura.

We got Shs800 million and handed it to an individual to get us milk. He never delivered and later we heard that he had two wives who were fighting over this money. We shut him down. That is why you hear us going on radios trying to get milk directly from the people. We are not owed by a single farmer of any amount.

If these people care so much about you, why have they not set up a factory like that for you?

I have brought tap water to our community. My wife has renovated a church in Nkukuru which was built in 1965. We built Naama Primary School and purchased computers for them. You, who insult Rwabwogo, what have you done?

The Bible tells us that jealousy is as cruel as the grave. But nonetheless we remain quiet and focus on our work. I beseech you to reject these lies.

What I think is that these people insult me so that I can abandon the NRM principles. Forty years later the party’s memories are starting to fade. Educating and sensitising the masses has died down. That is why we have dangerously injected money into our elections. Instead of educating people, we buy them.

I know these people. That person who is insulting me came with three others in 2015 and I taught them and deployed them in Busoga, Bugisu and Budama.

Four days later he switched off his phone and later we found him in a hotel room with a gun, alcohol and a woman.

I replaced him and he left.

Later I heard that he was an MP and so on.

Lack of education is dangerous. These are the people who want to destroy our party. They want to stop us from what President Yoweri Museveni has taught us about ideology.

But I want to inform all Ugandans that we all have a stake in President Museveni. No single person has a right to claim him by themselves.

I want to assure you that I have a backbone. I will not be intimidated or allow my people to be intimidated. I have knowledge, I am humble and I have God. Stop this stupidity.

I will not stop visiting people who are incarcerated in prison. If you arrest a person, I will look for their family because in our nation I want my children and their children not to be scared of each other.

Now they ask why I go to visit people in prison. Ignorance is a sickness indeed. How do you want to run Uganda if you don't want to listen to one another and reject reconciliation or to follow the law? We will not accept this.

Finally, I will encourage my people to be strong and know that all you hear are lies from the pits of hell. They are lies that fear the truth."