Maracha East MP Hopeful Edema JB Calls For Strategic Prioritization Of Regions
Edema JB while addressing his voters in Oleba Town Council on Monday Photo Credit Andrew Cohen Amvesi
MARACHA. The Maracha East County Parliamentary Aspirant, John Bosco Edema commonly referred to as JB, has called upon the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) government to start prioritizing regions like West Nile.
Edema made the appeal in Oleba Town Council where he was forming his taskforce members on Monday, April 21, 2025.
Speaking to hundreds of locals who turned up for the meeting, Edema said: “We must boldly tell the state that it is time for strategic prioritization of regions like West Nile. The President should consider reducing heavy political investment in Central Uganda where electoral returns are increasingly minimal.”
“We have consistently delivered strong support from the West Nile, Northern, Western, Eastern, and Southern regions. It is only right that the fruits of our loyalty are reflected in greater investments.
Resources that would otherwise be spent trying to win over reluctant constituencies in the Central region should now be channeled into unlocking the vast economic potential of West Nile through industrial parks, agricultural processing zones, regional trade infrastructure, and youth innovation hubs. We are not asking for charity, but we are asking for justice and a fair share of national development,” Edema remarked.
Edema who is vying on the NRM ticket stated that peace must be more than the absence of war—it must be the presence of justice, opportunity and dignity for all.
“Let us continue to build on the legacy of this hard-won peace and ensure that the next generation grows up with more opportunity and less fear,” he appealed.
Edema said once given the opportunity as a future MP for Maracha East, his agenda will be based on sustaining peace in Maracha and West Nile at large.
He said this will be anchored on inclusive development by ensuring that all communities, especially youth and women, are meaningfully engaged in economic activities like agribusiness, cooperatives and vocational training.
“Improving healthcare and education through better funding and equitable resource distribution to meet the needs of rural and underserved areas will also be top on my agenda. Besides, I intend to institutionalize local peace committees, interfaith dialogues and civic education to guard against ethnic tensions or political division,” Edema stated.
He equally promised to support climate-smart agriculture in order to safeguard livelihoods in the face of changing weather patterns that threaten food security.
On infrastructure for opportunity, Edema assured the locals that he will work with the central government to operationalize idle facilities and extend electricity, water and roads, especially with the newly launched industrial power initiatives.
He further used the opportunity to encourage the people of Maracha who are in the diaspora and other parts of the country to start thinking of investing back-home.
“Let us come home and develop our district. When we build factories and hotels in Maracha, we are transforming the district. These factories and hotels will also give job opportunities to idle youths in the district. So, I appeal to my brothers and sisters elsewhere to think of coming to develop Maracha district,” Edema said.
Following his speech, Juliet Ocogoru Monday, a resident of Oleba Town Council, commended Edema for coming to save them from the biting poverty in the area.
According to Ocogoru, so many government programs like the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga among others are only benefiting a few individuals who are connected to some leaders, leaving out the majority of the suffering people to continue sinking in poverty.
“I appeal to you not to convenience us for nothing, not even with money because we need development so that we can get out of poverty. You must go to Parliament and tell President Museveni to improve our health care system and education so that my child can study because I’m not educated. We also need the government programs meant for us to reach us down here so that we can alleviate household poverty,” Ocogoru emphasized.
Christopher Dramadri, the LCII Chairperson of Tabia Ward in Oleba Town Council, remained so optimistic that Edema, as youthful as he is, will solve their problems if given the chance to go to Parliament.
Dramadri reported that for a long period of time, Oleba Health Centre III has not been upgraded and as a result, there are no drugs in it, no proper infrastructure including maternity ward and that there are few health workers, a condition which is now posing danger to the lives of locals.
In response, Edema pledged that the first thing he will do when given the mandate, is to lobby for the upgrading of Oleba HCIII to HCIV status and also ensure that all other health centres across the Constituency are upgraded for effective health service delivery.