Although sounding like a joke, this piece of news item was sent by George Ayittey, Washington, DC. It is not a joke!

Arrest All the Poor, Minister Kibirige Says

New Vision (Kampala)

December 15, 2004
Posted to the web December 15, 2004

William Rwebembera
Kampala

THEY are poor. They are hard to lead. They should be arrested. This is the the way to develop, according to agriculture minister Kibirige Ssebunya.

He advised local leaders to arrest poor people in their areas of jurisdiction.

Ssebunya was on Monday officiating at the Rice Day celebrations in
Nyarweyo sub-county, Kibaale district.

"All the poor should be arrested because they hinder us from performing our development duties. It is hard to lead the poor, and the poor cannot lead the rich. They
should be eliminated," he said.

He said the poor encouraged the country to keep begging, adding that he
would table his idea in Parliament and lobby for it to become a law.

"Arresting the poor will be the only way to implement the Poverty
Eradication Action Plan," he said.

He said many people have land but are not utilising it profitably.

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