The Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), according to President Yoweri Museveni, is obstructing collaborations between state-owned organizations and private investors.
Museveni contends that some PPDA procedures are unfriendly to large-scale industrial setups, even though they appear to be legally valid when acquiring user things like machines.
He criticized the PPDA for, among other things, announcing a tender for the purchase of machinery for the Atiak Sugar Factory in the local press, which drew intermediaries who were chosen for their low pricing but who provided fraudulent equipment.
According to Museveni, a select few enterprises produce large-scale industrial machinery and earth-moving equipment, which their owners then sell directly to interested customers.
He contends that the PPDA would have chosen to work with them rather than place an ad in a neighborhood newspaper, which the major companies in that industry are unable to access.
He claims that middlemen or businesspeople who typically win these contracts seek to maximize their profits and ultimately buy subpar equipment in order to make a large profit on their investments after winning the bids.
On Thursday, Museveni presided over the Presidential CEO Forum’s fourth biannual retreat at the Kiira Motors Corporation in Jinja.
Museveni further argues that the PPDA should be restricted to the purchase of smaller office equipment, stationery, and sanitaryware, which are produced by a number of market participants to help them increase their fair bargaining power for government opportunities, but the purchase of large machinery should be handled directly with the manufacturers.
Under the topic “Uganda’s industrialization agenda: positioning Uganda as a net source of E-mobility solutions in Africa,” this year’s presidential CEO Forum retreat was held.
Museveni was challenged by Barbra Mulwana, the forum’s chairperson, to make sure that Uganda has a steady supply of electricity to support the expansion of the electronic vehicle sector.
She also demands that all industry participants be required to pay five US cents per unit for electricity, claiming that this incentive is essential to developing e-mobility.
In order to ensure that Kiira Motors receives the 40 billion Shillings necessary for the completion of the motor vehicle factory, scheduled to be commissioned at the end of the year, Museveni promised to coordinate with the Ministry of Finance.
Upon completion, he claims that the government will be their main client, purchasing their buses for use by ministries, departments, and organizations.
He claims that by doing this, they will be able to recapitalize and effectively compete with other market participants.
