State Minister of Finance for Investment and Privatization, Hon. Evelyn Anite, has proposed the establishment of a ‘Uganda Town’ dedicated to selling products manufactured in Uganda. She emphasized that this initiative will address long-standing unemployment issues and create a stable market for local manufacturers.
During her weekly “Chat with Anite” on X, Hon. Anite expressed that China Town is not a suitable idea for Uganda, as most items in such marketplaces are imported. “I want us to have a Uganda town where we would have all the products that are being manufactured in Uganda being sold in that market,” she said. “The fact that it is China Town, and all the products are being imported from China, we are donating jobs rather than creating them for our people.”
Minister Anite added that in a country with an 8% unemployment rate, the only jobs available are public service jobs, totaling 471,000. “Young people are crying about unemployment, and then we start supporting other people’s products, meaning that we are glorifying them!” she exclaimed.
Anite stated that Uganda can produce high-quality products at low prices, emphasizing that pricing is driven by demand. “You can sell products of low value and good quality; we can still make products of low value and good quality.”
She emphasized the importance of adding value to locally manufactured products, noting that this would create more jobs and boost the economy. “Can you imagine, with all the grass we have, we could actually do cattle, beef, goat rearing? We still have to import meat. As a country, why don’t we do that?”
Anite urged coffee farmers to add value to their coffee, stating that exporting coffee beans alone is insufficient for increasing their income. “How much value addition are we doing on our coffee? Until recently, we’ve grown our coffee export to 9 million bags of coffee. But we are still exporting coffee beans. We must ensure value addition to our coffee. There are over four products that I know you can get out of coffee – body scrub, body skin products, skincare products, and coffee drinks.”
Minister Anite encouraged coffee exporters to adopt value addition. She highlighted that the government, particularly her ministry, has a responsibility to encourage Ugandans to engage in value addition.
“Ugandans are not poor people; when you go downtown, most of those arcades are owned by Ugandans. We just have to get these citizens away from building arcades to doing value addition on our God-given minerals. We have over 35 minerals. How much have we exploited?” she asked.
Anite pointed out that the government is making significant efforts to reduce imports by providing incentives to those entering the manufacturing sector. “Government is giving incentives, and one of the incentives that we have in place is that anybody who comes into the sector of manufacturing, we give them land for free.”
Anite stated that the issue of unemployment in Uganda can only be resolved through industrialization. “We have to be very deliberate in creating jobs. And how can we do that? By industrializing our country. And let me tell you, it’s not about big industries. I have traveled to China, to India; I can tell you that cottage industries outnumber the big industries. Ugandans must do value addition to create jobs.”