Former Mukono district chairperson, Francis Lukooya Mukoome has observed that as the backbone of the country around whom the economy has rotated for ages, elderly people should be accorded more recognition and assistance to be able to depart without complaints of lack of provision in life.
In this light Lukooya suggests, the government should raise their gratuity from the current sh25,000, and lower the recognized age of senior citizens from 80 to 60 years to enable as many as possible access this facilitation.
He was on Monday handing out a festive season package of usables including sugar, rice, soap, meat and bread to over 130 elderly persons in Mukono Municipality donated to them by the Minister of Works and Transport, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala, at Jobiah Hotel in Upper Kauga zone in Mukono Central Division.
For thirteen consecutive years, Gen. Katumba who is a resident in Mukono, gives out assistance to aged people in the area, to offer them an opportunity to enjoy the festive season with other people in a situation where they may have nobody to provide for them.
Lukooya, who is also a former Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Wakiso was sad to note that the senior citizens’ project had specialized weekly medical treatment for the elderly, giving them services without lining up in banks, taxis and other public places which had been set up during his tenure as district chairman, has long been disbanded.
The towering army veteran who served as district chairman for two terms, announced his resolve to contest for the same seat in the 2026 general elections, to partly restore his virtues which in his opinion have been shattered by subsequent leaders. He singled out safe water extension under which he claims to have been the first district leader in the country to procure a water drilling ridge, which has since become dysfunctional.
On whether he does not fear antagonizing the sitting chairman National Unity Platform’s (NUP) Rev. Peter Bakaluba Mukasa, Lukooya maintains that indeed Bakaluba is his personal friend but that since politics is not a war but a struggle to avail service to as many as possible, nothing will create friction between them.
“Bakaluba is a friend and I am taking him on in the same vein; I am a better performer by all standards including experience, and I am sure he is going to take it in the same spirit,” Lukooya said without delving into details.
Earlier, the municipality councillor for the elderly William Wilberforce Magera Ssalongo hailed Gen. Katumba Wamala for the long standing services to the elderly, many of whom have nobody to help them access food, medical care and other provisions needed in life.
Magera thanked Lukooya for remembering his old time friends the elderly, and for promising to begin from where he ended when he was the district leader, and to revive elderly friendly services which became extinct with his departure, and pledged total support for his political endeavours.
And Gen. Katumba’s personal assistant Haji Juma Were who delivered the elderly persons’ package, said that it is by God’s grace that Lukooya has remembered the plight of the aged and pledged to begin friendly services they used to access under his leadership.
On his boss’ commitment to the elderly, Haji Were said that it is small compared to the needs of the beneficiaries, but that since it comes from the bottom of his heart, he appealed to them to accept it in that light.
The elderly people variously appreciated Gen. Katumba’s untiring efforts to help them have a decent Christmas always.
