President Museveni Reveals The Evil That Is Keeping Ugandans Into Poverty – Gives Necessary Solutions

Yesterday, on December 13, 2023, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni launched the Electronic Investors Protection Portal (EIPP) at State House, Entebbe.

The digital platform, initiated by the State House Investors Protection Unit led by Col. Edith Nakalema, aims to safeguard investment processes in Uganda. The EIPP will provide guidance to investors, access to authentic government sources, a comprehensive reporting mechanism for inquiries and complaints, robust enforcement, and follow-up on reported issues, along with regular feedback to investors.

President Museveni commended Col. Nakalema for the initiative, emphasizing its support for Uganda’s mission to create prosperity through the production and sale of goods or services, whether as an investor or an employee. The portal will also serve as a bridge connecting investors with relevant government entities and feature language translation to accommodate non-English speaking investors.

President Museveni highlighted the role of the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government’s policies in Uganda’s progressive economic growth. He pointed out that policy mistakes in the past hindered development, citing an example of share confiscation by the UPC government in the 1970s.

Museveni emphasized the NRM’s commitment to liberating the private sector, allowing individuals with capital and entrepreneurship to invest in Uganda. This approach has played a crucial role in steering the country’s development, distinguishing it from missed opportunities observed in other African countries over the decades.

“Since Independence, I have been watching these African countries, they missed opportunities in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, even now some of them are still missing. Here in East Africa, we have all the examples. In Uganda, we couldn’t develop because we lacked capital and entrepreneurship and the reason was, policy mistakes where people like Obote of UPC confiscated the shares of the investors in 1970.”

He announced something he called the “Nakivubo Announcement” where he went and took shares of private companies and made them government shares,” he stressed.He however added that the country’s economic growth would be much faster if there was no corruption.

“Here we have improved the investment atmosphere by number one- the policies like freedom of the private sector, secondly-peace in the country and thirdly- infrastructure; but the growth would be much faster if we didn’t have corruption. This corruption is a hindrance. The corruption practices include bribes, they tell investors that we shall not give you license unless you bribe, we shall not give you the procurement/ tender unless you bribe. I have been hearing that. Then the other practices are the delays,” he noted.

Gen. Museveni emphasized the importance of integrity in government agencies’ fight against corruption during recruitments.

Hon. Evelyn Anite, Minister of State for Investment and Privatization, expressed gratitude to President Museveni for his leadership in promoting Uganda’s socio-economic transformation. She commended Col. Nakalema and the innovators for creating a digital solution that enables real-time monitoring of the investment climate.

Hon. Anite highlighted the direct reporting feature of the electronic portal to the President, enabling quick identification of challenges and those hindering Uganda’s progress. Col. Nakalema assured the President that the portal would address challenges faced by investors in the country.