The speaker started by thanking and pledging support to the Ugandan Convention team who have ensured that Uganda remains in the site and vision of many more people than those at home.
Uganda is accessible and most of the major airlines goes to Uganda and these includes: KLM, Brussels Airlines, South African Airways, Emirates, Kenya Airways, Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir.
The government has invested in a Kampala-Entebbe Express highway which is intended to ease traffic and reduce the time taken to the airport, about 80% of work is now complete. It is a dual-carriage way, road tolled. Also the Jinja-Kampala express way construction is underway and looking forward for the standard gauge railway which will commence sooner rather than later.
The parliament is working on the local content law which will obliges foreign contractors to start buying local products as Uganda cannot continue to support other economies at the expense of the Uganda economy. Also, foreign companies must be compelled to employ Ugandans and they must be a roll-out to stop expatriates to stay for over 20 years. Five years is enough to roll-out to local people and get out”. Kadaga stressed.
She emphasised the need to import substitution, Uganda should not be a permanent import market of goods which it can be able to manufacture from home. It needs to broaden its manufacturing based to be able to compete regionally and also supply the regional markets.
Delighted to notice the passion from Shahid Sheikh one of the successful Ugandan Asians whose family owns Clifton packaging one of the leading packaging factories in the UK, Sheikh is keen to come and do business but needs the support of the government. His investment will help to woken the agriculture sectors who products needs value addition which is Sheikhs speciality.
During her recent visit to a food processing plant in the USA, she discovered that the sweet potatoes which is a low value crop in Uganda is now a valued crop used to make potatoes chips, puree and this can bring a lot of revenue to the country if we take advantage of the USA market.
She assured those in the Diaspora that the parliament is doing its role to ensure a good legal framework.
She appealed to Ugandan Asians to make a huge pilgrimage to the country with their families which will make a big statement as Uganda is a country of their birth.
She also cited that more grow in the real estate is needed and was happy to see both at the US and UK convention various apartments being exhibited and she appealed to the Housing Finance Bank to do more as the sectors needs more improvement to achieve the desired levels of standards.
The parliament is working on the local content law which initially started with the Oil and Gas sector, not enough skills and capacity is left in the country after the contractors’ contacts are expired. The proposal obliges companies even foreign contractors who imports consumable products like tomatoes from South Africa and chicken from Brazil for instance to start buying local products as Uganda cannot continue to support other economies at the expense of the Uganda economy.
The other area she pointed out was the skills transfer, foreign companies that contract to do mega projects must be compelled to employ Ugandans and they are must be a roll-out to stop expatriates to stay for over 20 years. Five years is enough to roll-out to local people and get out she stressed. She finally said that during the budget, there was a reduction on the cost of supplying power to rural areas and parts of the country to enable Ugandans and industries to be able to access power at a subsidised rate.
