Kadaga woos Swedish investors

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has asked the Swedish government to consider investing in Uganda’s private sector as a means of reducing the high levels of unemployment.

She made the remarks during a meeting with a group of journalists from Sweden, led by the Swedish Ambassador, Per Lindgarde on Monday.

The journalists are in Uganda on a study tour to learn about progress and challenges faced by the country.

According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate in Uganda stands at 64 percent with majority of the unemployed being youths aged between 18-34. Kadaga said that the private sector has the potential to create more jobs.

She however said that the private Sector is not growing, hence calling for support from development partners.

Kadaga told the journalists that Uganda is still grappling with poor service delivery especially in the health sector.

Kadaga said that while the population is increasing the health services are static.

She however noted that Uganda has made progress in several areas including discovery of minerals and infrastructure development.

Kadaga said that government plans to have 40 percent coverage of electricity in all district headquarters by the end of this year.

The representative of the Swedish journalists, Erika Bjerstrom recognized the progress Uganda has made in infrastructure development.