PRESIDENT MUSEVENI COULD HAVE PUT A SMILE ON THE FACE OF UGANDANS DURING THE ADDRESS ON THE ECONOMY.

 PRESIDENT MUSEVENI WAS CAPABLE OF PUTTING A SMILE TO ALL THOSE WHO LISTENED TO HIS ADDRESS ON THE ECONOMY SUNDAY, MAY 22 UNFORTUNATELY HE DID’NT.

By William Kituuka Kiwanuka 

I remember those days when we were at Makerere University doing Economics with Dr. Michael Atingi the current Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda, Florence Kuteesa former Director Budget in the Ministry of Finance and others, we were taught by among others Prof. Obone who was teaching us Money, Banking and Public Finance; Dr. Gemina Ssemwogerere - Development Economics and the Late Dr. Sulaimani Kiggundu that Government has at its disposal the monetary and fiscal policies that can be used variously to fine - tune an economy at any moment in time.

President Museveni had an opportunity to show Ugandans that he really cares about their welfare and the hardships they are enduring. We are all aware that the monetary and fiscal policies operating in Uganda were manufactured by President Museveni’s Government. They were not imposed on Uganda by some other authority. It is true, there are some arrangements that bind Uganda in the East Africa Community, but then there are tax rates which the President should have reduced by some small percentage after all, a reduction in taxes more often than not has an income effect, where saved resources are bound to be spent on other goods and or services and the Government would still earn revenue.

The Value Added Tax for example is at 18%. Given the economic hardships majority of Ugandans are experiencing, the President had the option to reduce this tax to say 16%. Some Ugandans are well aware that at least given the high tax rates, some people end up paying far less tax after some negotiations. Hence, a reduced VAT has the chances of yielding far more tax revenue to Government than keeping it at a rate which many see as exploitative or unaffordable.

Ugandans needed to know the reasons why all of a sudden both locally produced as well as imported  goods registered high prices. It should have been opportunity for the President to lineup Accountants from each of the major producers of these goods. These people would one by one tell us what changed that is responsible for the increased prices as well as their wholesale and retail prices.

The President may not know that now some retailers are at liberty to tell buyers higher prices simply because it is the norm. These retailers end cheating the buyers. There is need for some mechanism to check prices at which goods are sold as some retailers are simply cheating unsuspecting customers. The President needed to talk about some means of checking retailers who simply cheat customers.

The President is aware that there are Ugandans who take free money every month with no tangible work done. It was opportunity to terminate their services. These are Presidential advisers. The saved resources could be put to areas that can help boost productivity in sectors like Agriculture where we still rely on rain. The President could equally slice about shs 2m from each member of Cabinet since he cannot easily reduce their number. He would go further and recover about shs 1.5m from each Member of Parliament. It is known that the Chairpersons LCV don’t pocket shs 2m, yet for most of them, their workload and duties call for a higher pay.

The President could promise Ugandans that a part from confirmed travel abroad as on Sunday, May 22, he had put a ban on Government spending money for meetings outside Uganda. The country was able to move on through COVID when people were not traveling outside Uganda. Uganda needs to boost the Tele Conferencing Facilities and Zoom facilities as substitutes to money wasted on foreign travel.

The President would also promise to greatly reduce the amount of money spent on Medical Tourism and instead ensure that the country acquires equipment that is missing, plus having some professionals employed on contract to skill Ugandans in handling more delicate cases some of which call for travel outside the country.

The President would remove some items from the 2022 / 2023 Budget like repairs and or works on State House. The need to buy over 300 vehicles for UPDF - at least we are not in a war situation.

While I cannot be exhaustive, I am convinced that the President could have put some smile on the faces of Ugandans if he had come up with some measures to show that he was concerned that many Ugandans are now at the mercy of God given the economic challenges.