by Morrison Rwakakamba, Chairman, Uganda Investment Authority.
In the first few years of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) administration, about 1986 to 1992, the
policy debates and actions were dominated by restoring security, economic reconstruction, and
stabilization. Post-1992 shifted gear to dedicated actions aimed at the actualization of NRM’s number 5 of
the NRM 10 Point Program; “Building an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy“, It was
envisaged that an independent, integrated and self-sustaining economy would stop the leakage of
Uganda’s wealth abroad and thus protect democracy, national security and national unity. And in 1992,
President Yoweri Museveni articulated thus;
“There is no way that Africans can emancipate themselves from poverty and backwardness without
carrying out an industrial revolution. As long as we continue exporting cheap, raw, primary commodities,
our present situation will not change (Museveni, 1992: 208).”
And;
“Our economic programme hinges on reviving and diversifying production, both in the agricultural and
industrial sectors, with a view to creating a well-integrated, self-sustaining economy …. this particularly
involves restoring traditional export crops, and also expanding non-traditional crops such as beans or
simsim. (Museveni, 1992: 45)“[1]
The opportunity for Uganda is ripe. Domestic and local investors looking to establish investments in
Uganda, have the opportunity to benefit from the now expansive African market enabled by the African
Continental Free Trade Area (Africa has 1.3 billion people and is projected to have 2.5 billion people by
2050), access to quota-free and duty-free market in Europe under the Everything else But Arms (EBA)
arrangement and over 6000 products listed under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)
arrangement.
Uganda’s quest for strong industrial growth and development is on an upward trajectory. Latest datasets
suggest that Uganda has over 5,000 operational industries in various sectors. Jinja remains Uganda’s
industrial hub with over 100 industries, more than double the number of industries it had in its heydays.
The National Development Plan III, has three programmes directly linked with industrialization:
Manufacturing; Innovation, Technology Transfer and Development; and Private Sector Development.
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