President Museveni has blamed some of the government’s failures on a section of ‘lazy and useless’ lawmakers whom he criticised for not identifying problems affecting citizens and monitoring government projects in their respective constituencies.

Mr Museveni, who was addressing youth leaders and the business community from Greater Masaka on Tuesday, said some MPs, especially the NRM members who form the bulky of legislators in the House, focus on raising their salaries and fighting for tickets to go on foreign trips at the expense of serving poor Ugandans.

“Some NRM legislators are lazy, they cannot even monitor projects in their constituents, but on the other hand those from Opposition are useless and simply cause confusion,” the President said.

The NRM enjoys numerical strength in the House with more than 300 MPs in the 11th Parliament.

The President addressed the meeting via video conferencing at Masaka Liberation Square and advised the youth to vote for only hardworking lawmakers and those ready to implement the NRM party manifesto.

He said voting the right people would streamline things and ensure effective service delivery at the grassroots.

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“If your MP is not doing the work, please do the monitoring of government money and projects in your areas,” the President told the meeting.

Mr Museveni has previously urged voters during previous elections to elect only NRM members even when they ‘simply sleep’ in Parliament, but can wake up and support his ruling party positions.

The President told the meeting that his government has enough money to tackle all problems affecting Ugandans, but that the 1995 constitution gave appropriate mandate to Parliament.

“I cannot violate the Constitution, I must work with the Parliament as the Constitution says. I cannot decide alone that let this money go to this project, so [help me and] vote good MPs,” the President said.

The NRM presidential candidate said his government has constructed and rehabilitated a number of roads in Greater Masaka and promised that a few that are still in poor state would soon be worked upon.

The President promised to tarmac five roads in the region, including; Villa-Maria-Katonga-Kabulasoke Road, which connects Kalungu to Gomba, Rakai-Isingiro Road, Lumbugu -Lwamaggwa –Lyantonde Road, Lusaalira-Mubende-Ntuusi-Sembabule Road and Ntuusi-Kaaliiro-Lyantonde Road.

Unlike in other new cities and municipalities where Mr Museveni has commissioned projects such as modern markets or roads during his campaign trail, in Masaka City, there is nothing the president launched in the area.

The Shs18b Masaka Central Market, which Mr Museveni was expected to commission, is still under construction despite extending the contract deadline three times.

Historically, Masaka is known to be an Opposition stronghold and four-time presidential contender Dr Kizza Besigye has been collecting more votes compared to Mr Museveni in the previous general elections in the area.

During the 2016 elections, Dr Besigye defeated Museveni in Masaka District after garnering 47,549 votes against his 41,988 votes.