KAMPALA SERENA HOTEL – President Yoweri Museveni will this afternoon give a State of Nation Address at Kampala Serena Hotel.
The Head of State is expected to spell out economic progress in the financial year 2018/19 and government plans for the 2019/20 fiscal year.
The State of the Nation address will be followed by the reading of the National Budget for the fiscal year 2019/20 on Thursday next week at the same venue.
Mr. Museveni is likely to be disappointed with economic growth for the 2018/19 fiscal year, which registered a slight slowdown, based on the preliminary figures which were released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) on Friday last week.
The economic growth 2018/19 is 0.1 percentage points lower than last year’s growth, from 6.2 percent in the fiscal year 2017/2018 to 6.1 percent.
The decline in growth indicates that the economy is entering a contraction stage as a result of slower global growth rate among others.
In accordance with Article 101(1) of the constitution, Mr Museveni will also highlight the social and political state of the country including the border tensions mainly between Uganda and Rwanda which brought cross border movements at halt.
The president is also expected to reveal the executive’s legislative agenda through informing the Speaker of parliament the type of Bills that it intends to table for consideration by parliament.
In the 2018 State of the Nation Address, the executive promised to table 21 Bills for consideration by parliament. However, only a few have been passed, while the Bill for the Amendment of Electoral Laws is currently under consideration by parliament.
Mr. Museveni is expected to inform the country the priority economic sectors his government is set to focus on as part of Uganda’s economic blue print – Vision 2040. Vision 2040 is aimed at turning Uganda into a middle income country within the next 25 years.
How to haul millions of youths from the abyss of unemployment is likely to form a considerable part of Museveni’s address as Bobi Wine effect takes a toll.
Last year, Museveni’s State of the Nation Address was centered on a number of basic priority sectors – security, agriculture, industry, services and ICT.