The Leader of the Opposition (LOP), Mathias Mpuuga has faulted government on its role in the recovery of the economy, saying that the state has relegated almost all its core obligations to the private sector.
Mpuuga made these remarks while delivering his response to President Yoweri Museveni’s State of the Nation Address. The Opposition leader made his response on 04 August 2021 in fulfilment of the statutory obligations under Rule 52 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.
Mpuuga said that government is ceding ground in most critical sectors such as finance, education and health.
“During previous regimes, these sectors were prioritised by government and made strides in developing infrastructure that delivered affordable services across the country,” he said.
Mpuuga added that preference is usually given to foreign rather than local investors, on justification that the former brings huge investments into the economy.
“In return, government awards them incentives such as tax waivers, land and guarantees among others,” he said.
He also criticised government for using the Covid-19 pandemic as a cover up for almost every failure. Of late, Mpuuga said, government attributes the contraction of the economy to the pandemic, rising poverty levels, escalating public debt and poor service delivery.
“Before the pandemic, these concerns were already manifest. The lifeline of the economy has for long, been borrowing,” Mpuuga said.
Meanwhile, Napak District Woman Representative, Faith Nakut said that the President’s resolve to continue funding the Uganda Development Bank to give loans for manufacturing, agriculture, tourism and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at lower lending rates, shows government’s commitment towards supporting local entrepreneurs.
“This will support import substitution, industrialisation and agro-industrialisation which is value addition to our locally made produce,” she said.
Nakut made these remarks as she moved a motion to debate the State of the Nation Address presented by the President on 04 July 2021.
Nakut said that the establishment of a special development fund to encourage manufacturing and other economic opportunities in each sub region will ensure that development and economic activities are distributed.
“These industries will be adding value to what is locally produced in each sub-region in the same way government invested in the Soroti fruit factory in Teso, Atiak sugar factory in Acholi and tea in Kigezi and Tooro,” she said.
Nakut said that economy continued to grown despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and other disasters. “Had it not been for the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy was projected to grow by 6.3 percent and 6.2 percent in financial years 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, respectively. Unlike other countries which have been faced with similar challenges, the economy has not collapsed because of the firm policies,” she said.
The response by the LOP and the motion thanking the president attracted a debate which lasted almost two hours, with some legislators applauding government while others called for better interventions across all government sectors.
Phiona Nyamutoro, the National Female Youth MP said the President’s advice to the youth to embrace the ICT should be embraced to enhance skills and expose youth to opportunities worldwide.
“It is important in generating diverging forces that the young people should focus on this advice,” she said.
Christine Kaaya (NUP, Kiboga District) called for deliberate efforts to avert the effects of climate change, saying that climate change has posed challenges to the agricultural sector.
“When we keep on reminding our people that we are targeting to shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture and we have not resolved the issue of climate change, I feel we are lying to ourselves,” she said.
Betty Aol Ocan (FDC, Gulu city) pointed out that the state of the nation address did not highlight issues on education, arguing that a country is judged by the quality of the people and education.
“The quality of our people keeps going down because of the quality of education. We need to sit on the drawing board to find means of ensuring quality education reaches to children in rural areas,” she said.
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