By David Rupiny
Members of Uganda’s parliamentary committee on finance, planning, and economic development have expressed their happiness with efforts by the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) in driving the country’s industrialisation agenda.
The sentiments were poured as the management of UIA, led by the Director General, Robert Mukiza, presented before the finance committee the authority’s Budget Framework Paper (BFP) for the financial year 2026/27.
In financial year 2026/27, UIA is seeking UGX255,102,000,000 for three priority interventions: enhancing coordination, promotion, attraction, facilitation, retention, and growth of investments; sustainably acquiring, developing, and managing serviced industrial parks; and enhancing and strengthening the institutional capacity of UIA and the private sector.
In addition, UIA plans several activities like promoting affordable agricultural financing mechanisms, developing and maintaining infrastructure in free zones and industrial parks, undertaking investment promotion, promoting certification for MSME products for market access, and implementing digital investment facilitation strategies, among others.
The chairperson of the finance committee, Hon. Amos Kankunda, said they have seen UIA’s performance in promoting industrial development keep on improving, emphasising that UIA should give more push for more industrial parks across Uganda and higher quality of products.
“We are very passionate about investments and the role UIA is playing in value addition, import substitution, job creation, and increased government revenues. I want to assure you that as a committee we are going to support you”, said Kankunda.
The chairperson also said UIA should start claiming success stories like an increase in the variety of locally manufactured products and services, increased exports, reduced imports, and increasing government revenues, emphasising that all these successes are rooted in UIA’s interventions.
Hon. Emely Kugonza, a member of the committee, said for Uganda to move forward, industrialisation is key with UIA in the lead, adding that the Government should allocate more resources to the authority to drive industrialisation, add value to local raw materials, boost import substitution and exports, create jobs, and increase government revenues.
Kugonza said since UIA is a one-stop shop for key investment and business services, there is an urgent need to review the Investment Code to give it real powers to reduce the cost of doing business, including reducing the turnaround time for key licenses and permits.
Hon. Paul Omara, a member of the committee, said the role of UIA is central to industrial development of Uganda, adding that the sure antidote to youth unemployment is industrialization with UIA front and centre of it all. He said there is a need to speed up the development of industrial parks across Uganda.
Hon. Dickson Kateshumbwa, also a member of the committee, urged UIA to guide local governments on how to deal with investors.
The UIA Director General, Robert Mukiza, said in the financial year 2026/27, UIA will prioritise investment promotion, industrial parks development, and institutional capacity building for the authority and the private sector.
Mukiza said regionalising industrial park development is not only to boost domestic investment but also deepen a culture of industrialisation in the Ugandan people and across the country.
In financial year 2024/25, UIA licensed a total of 481 investment projects, up from 426 the previous year, with a projected capital value of $3.2 billion and expected to create 53,230 direct jobs across multiple sectors.
Out of these licensed projects, 191 are now fully operational, representing $1.2 billion in actual investment and 26,782 direct jobs created.
FDI inflows increased from $2.99 billion in 2023/24 to $3.5 billion, reflecting strong investor confidence (Bank of Uganda).
UIA piloted a trader-to-manufacturer initiative in the Kikuubo shopping district in Kampala, supporting 33 traders, licensing 11 projects with a planned investment of $8.6 million and 2,022 expected jobs.
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