President Museveni has called on Ugandans to protect the country’s economic gains as Uganda continues its journey toward high middle-income status.
Highlighting the remarkable growth of the economy since 1986, Museveni noted that Uganda’s GDP has expanded from $3.9 billion to $66 billion, a 17-fold increase.
The president who was giving a keynote address ahead of the NRM special interest group elections at Kololo Independence Grounds outlined five phases of economic transformation.
The first phase, he said, was minimum recovery, when essential goods such as soap, salt, paraffin, cement, and clothing were scarce. “We quickly restored production of consumer goods to meet the population’s needs,” Museveni said.
The second phase focused on expanding production, particularly key exports like coffee and tea. The third phase, diversification, brought traditionally non-monetary products—including bananas, maize, cassava, Irish potatoes, milk, beef, and fruits—into the cash economy. Phase four emphasized value addition, transforming raw materials into higher-value products.
Now, Uganda is entering the fifth phase: the knowledge economy. “We are no longer just adding value; we are harnessing the products of the brain and skills of the hand,” Museveni said.
He cited the locally made Kira electric buses as a symbol of Uganda’s technological progress, emphasizing the country’s shift from assembling imported products to creating homegrown innovations such as computers and vaccines.
Museveni also urged citizens to fully participate in the money economy.
He noted that in 2013, 68% of households were largely outside the cash economy, but initiatives like Operation Wealth Creation have reduced that number to 33%.
“To protect the gains we have made and take Uganda to high middle-income status, every Ugandan must engage in productive activities, particularly commercial agriculture,services and ICT among others to earn cash and build wealth,” he said.
