The leader of the National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED), Joseph Kabuleta, has advised government to put the natural resources into the hands of the citizens and reduce taxes on the informal sector if the country is to attain the middle income status.
Speaking to the media in Kampala, Kabuleta said Uganda still has a long way to go in order to attain a middle income status, adding that a lot needs to be done by the government to empower the citizens economically.
"When Museveni took over in 1986, he discovered that the backbone of Obote's economy was cooperative societies, very functional, some even sponsored his bush war. He then decided to kill them to retain the number of peasants at 70%," he said.
Kabuleta explained that a lot of people in Uganda are only working to put food on the table every day, adding that the mark of poverty is when you don’t have food.
"By 1986 when Museveni came into power, Uganda was exporting over $194 million worth of coffee every year with so many local people benefiting from this, yet now we make over $700 million but with seven out of ten companies that export coffee being owned by foreigners," he said.
In order to make the situation better for Ugandans, Kabuleta suggested that the government should stop importing food and ensure that all focus is put on supporting local production.
"Uganda exports close to £200M of fish to the EU every year, but who are the beneficiaries of this fish? Not local Ugandans. Before China came and took over our fish due to bad leadership, we were number five exporter of fresh fish [in Africa] to the EU,” he claimed.
Kabuleta noted one of the biggest sources of income in rural Buganda are the lakes.
