Ugandan president: Movement will win 2006 elections

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has assured supporters that the ruling National Resistance Movement will win the 2006 elections, according to a press releasefrom the State House on Saturday.

Museveni made the assurance at a public rally held in Kawempe division in Kampala on Friday.

"We will win the 2006 elections as we did in the two previous presidential elections in 1996 and 2001. The remaining problem is poverty," Museveni said.

Uganda will hold first multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections on March 12, 2006 since the Movement took power in 1986.

Museveni said that following the opening up of political space some were leaving the Movement for the parties.

He, however, noted that there is no better political party thanthe Movement.

"No political party, apart from the Movement, has ruled Uganda more than 10 years. This shows that the Movement is a better political organization," he explained.

Meanwhile the president advised the people of Kawempe to engagein intensive farming with highly priced yields, which can increase their household incomes.

He disclosed that the government will channel poverty eradication funds through organized credit and savings groups, not through agencies that charge high interest rates.

Source: Xinhua