President Yoweeri Museveni has blasted power distribution company, UMEME saying it is concerned with making profits at the expense of service consumers.
Museveni was speaking on Saturday during celebrations to mark International Labor Day.
“They went behind [my back] and brought something called Umeme. @UmemeLtd ! What for! A private company looking for profits! You make it a middleman between the generation of electricity and the final consumers, including the factories which are supposed to create jobs,” Museveni said.
He added, “The power for industrial parks will go straight from the generation point to the industries and not through UMEME. If UMEME dies, that is their mistake.”
The power distribution company has been faces with criticism over how it handles operations with many bashing the many blackouts it has failed to prevent.
A bigger part of his address was on how the government intends to create more jobs through commercial agriculture, lower the cost of electricity for production and consolidate markets.
Museveni also spoke out against exportation of labour saying he doesn’t believe in it.
“For me I don’t believe in labor export. Countries which externalize labor are countries which have missed something. I have proof,” Museveni said.
“You see so many Bangladeshis and Filipinos abroad but I have never seen South Korea exporting labour. It is about 2.4 times smaller than Uganda but with a bigger population but you don’t see them roaming around the world looking for the jobs. What did they do?” he asked.
Labour export has in the recent past gained popularity in Uganda with many companies formed to export labour of Ugandans to especially middle east countries.
The president also used the occasion to launch the National Action Plan on the Elimination of Child Labor in Uganda 2021-25.