President Yoweri Museveni has appealed to all people and organisations working to promote trade and investment in Uganda to put more efforts towards uplifting the 68% of Uganda\u2019s population who are still living the subsistence way of life so that they join money economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that failure to do that would tantamount to all the country\u2019s efforts towards promotion of trade, investment and industrialisation, not yielding meaningful results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nPresident made the remarks this afternoon while closing the two-day West Nile\nInvestment Symposium 2019 at Muni University in Arua City in West Nile\nSub-Region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nsymposium that run under the theme \u2018Transformation of Africa\u2019s Upper Nile\nValley through Pan African Peace Building and Holistic Development\u2019 was\norganised by the Department of Operation Wealth Creation (OWC) in partnership\nwith the Uganda Investment Authority and Muni University, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President\nMuseveni said that to meaningfully promote trade, investment and industrial\ngrowth in Uganda, there is need to work to bring the majority 68% of the\ncountry\u2019s population who are in subsistence farming into commercial farming and\nbe part of the modern capital economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nadded that this big fraction of the population are very important and if they\njoin the money market they will be consumers who will not only boost the market\nbut also equally be producers who will produce the much needed raw materials to\nsustain the industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\ncan\u2019t talk of attracting investment and industrialisation when the majority of\nUgandans are still living in pre-capitalist economy and merely work for food.\nEven if you attract investors, if the country\u2019s purchasing power is low, the\nfactories will collapse because of lack of market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe\nUnited States of America has a purchasing power of 19 trillion US dollars with\na population of 316 million people while the whole of Africa with 1.2 billion\npeople has a purchasing power of 2.5 trillion dollars because the majority of\nAfricans live a subsistence way of life and are never involved in the cash\neconomy,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGetting\nthe 68% of Ugandans into the money economy is crucial for us as a country but\nmore so as leaders because leading people who have no money in a modern era, is\ncriminal and a great betrayal to our people,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr.\nMuseveni also expressed happiness that the West Nile Investment Symposium had\nput the need for market integration high on the agenda noting that integration\nwas important because investors are always attracted by bigger market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that to attract investment, Uganda must ensure that goods in the country are produced cheaply and are of the high quality. He added that to do that, the country must address the cost of transport, electricity and the interest rates on money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He equally noted that high taxes hinder investment adding that in case of Uganda most of the taxes are on consumption and luxuries and not on production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turning\nto health matters, he used the occasion to warn the people against shaking\nhands well knowing that the Ebola virus is still in the neighbouring Democratic\nRepublic of Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 1st<\/sup> Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of Government Business in Parliament, Gen. Moses Ali, commended the organisers of the symposium for enabling the world to understand the economic potential of the West Nile Region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He said that the region suffered due to political conflicts in that area and said that with the peace brought in by the Movement Government, the region had got a chance to develop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He asked the people of West Nile to jealously safeguard the peace and never allow themselves to return to the turbulent past. State Minister for Northern Uganda, Hon. Kwiyucwiny Grace, said the symposium has helped to re-brand West Nile and Northern Uganda as a whole as well as marketing it to the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n She prayed that the region moves to reap a lot from the symposium. She also hailed the government PRDP programme that she noted had greatly uplifted the lives of the people of Northern Uganda especially in the sectors of Education, Health, infrastructure development and poverty eradication. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" President Yoweri Museveni has appealed to all people and organisations working to promote trade and investment in Uganda to put more efforts towards uplifting the 68% of Uganda\u2019s population who are still living the subsistence way of life so that they join money economy. He said that failure to do that would tantamount to all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":10655,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-10653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n