ENTEBBE – President Museveni has on Monday evening launched a book titled “Uganda’s March to Industrialisation 1986-2040”, authored by Hon Mary Karooro Okurut, the Cabinet Minister in Charge of General Duties in the Office of the Prime Minister.
During the launch at State House, Entebbe, Museveni said that Uganda’s transformation has happened because of NRM’s clarity of vision even when faced with bottlenecks like the high cost of electricity, money, and transport.
“Our steadfastness, however, has seen our economy grow steadily over the years and from a country of scarcity we are now a country of surplus (milk, poultry, sugarcane etc),” said the president.
He said that Uganda’s challenge now is to find market for the country’s surplus products, which he said explains push for regional integration. “For example, Uganda’s annual milk production is 2.5 billion litres, yet the country consumes not more than 800 million litres. The rest is sold in the region.”
“We have resolved most of the obstacles that limited our industrialization push. We have surplus electricity, have fixed the roads, now working on the railway and capitalizing Uganda Development Bank to fix the cost of money,” added Museveni.
He revealed that the country’s biggest challenge is corruption.
“Previously, it was mainly perpetrated by civil servants but it looks like the politicians have joined in. We are going to crack the whip. I urge investors to report government workers who ask for bribes. For the foreigners, you can go through your ambassadors who will reach me easily,” he said.
Museveni commended Okurut for documenting the industrialization journey and congratulated her on authoring the book.
