Suruma tells Uganda’s tough economic journey in his book

Written in the first person, Advancing The Ugandan Economy: a Personal Account” gives a chronology of events and how they affected the economy of the country not only at the national level but right from the household level.

Drawing from personal experience as a director of research at the central bank, managing director Uganda Commercial Bank, minister of Finance, senior presidential adviser on finance and an entrepreneur, Suruma gives the human face and touch to the bumpy economic road that many Ugandan’s have had to ride.

The book’s structure gives the reader a choice to jump to particular chapters of interest other than reading the whole book at the same time, though the chapter flow and their sub titles give a rich chronological flow of the narrative.

Politics and the economy
Weaving through the intricate connection between politics and economics, the former Finance minister explains in detail how politics and economic development are bedfellows. The absence of one retards the growth of the other.

The book can be divided into two parts; the first part vividly shows how lack of political will failed to sustain economic development, while poor economic policies like the price controls policy in the 1970s worked against the development of the country. In this part, the book also shows that with determination and good will, countries like Uganda or all those in third world can achieve economic growth and sustained development.

Much as the theme of the book is economics, it touches on the issue of freedom and democracy as a means through which development can be attained. Suruma explains how the absence of the two in the first quarter of Uganda’s independence played a vital role in the disintegration of Uganda’s economy.

First part
The first part of the book also details the steps taken to overcome the setbacks of the first quarter of Uganda’s independence to the road to economic recovery, through economic reforms, freedom and democracy.

It includes ensuring political stability to achieve sustained growth, coming from a -2.9 per cent annual per capita income decline in the 1970s and 1980s to a 6 per cent GDP growth in the early 2000s.

He delves into what went wrong with some aspects of the agricultural sector which was a pillar of Uganda’s economy, through the export of products like coffee. In the chapter about export reform, he deals with the revamping of the coffee sector which had been the bedrock of Uganda’s foreign exchange earnings.
The reform changed the status quo of Uganda’s top forex earner by putting the farmer before the exporter. These reforms broke the monopoly enjoyed by Coffee Marketing Board of exporting Uganda’s coffee and put the farmers at the mercy of the new exporters.

One of the economic sagas of the NRM regime that is also highlighted is the sale of Uganda Commercial Bank where Suruma served as the managing director.

In this chapter, The struggle for Uganda Commercial Bank, he talks about the pressure from the World Bank. The World Bank wanted to have an array of top management brought in as expatriates in order for the Ugandan government to get a credit facility to resuscitate the financial sector.

Part two
In what would be part two of the book, Suruma looks at the future of Uganda’s economy in terms of its new found sources of wealth. The latter chapters of the book give insight into what needs to be done with the new sectors of the economy that are not only likely to boost it but need a lot of investment in terms of governance and training of personnel.

Among those Suruma talks of are oil which is a new sector and the lessons coming from a number of African countries with oil, where it’s been more of a curse than a blessing. The earlier such sectors are better organised the sooner they will enhance the future of Uganda’s economic stability, Suruma says in his book.

Other topics include the improvement of agricultural productivity and youth employment. He not only highlights what needs to be done but he goes ahead to suggest policy reforms that policy makers should consider if Uganda is to keep its current democratic, and economic reforms, and at the same time achieve the growth required to leap frog Uganda into the developed world class.

The sacrifice
To get a firsthand experience Suruma left the comfort of his tenured professorship in America to come and take up a job as a director of research at the central bank during the leadership of the late Dr Suleiman Kiggundu as the governor.

Through a step by step narration, his reflections demonstrate how deeply troubled the economic situation had reached. For example, he narrates how in 1987 one of his friends tricked him into helping him to get $200 from the central bank so as to enable him travel to Nairobi for a conference only to meet the same person on the street two days later, and instead of apologising for his trickery, he just laughed at Suruma’s naivety.

“This is how we survive my friend,” he said. “I sold the $200 on the black market and the proceeds will feed me and my family for the next few weeks”, the friend told Suruma, having sold the dollars for four times more on the black market than he had paid for them at the central bank.
The book will be launched on September 23 at Makerere University.

About Suruma

Ezra Suruma held several key positions in the Uganda government during the nation’s transition period, including minister of finance.

His insightful recounting of those times demonstrates that African countries can achieve economic stability and sustainrapid growth when they meet at least two interdependent conditions:establishing a stable and secure political framework and unleashing entrepreneurialism .

Suruma also highlights the strategic ares that still require fundamental reform if Uganda is to become a modern state and share his vision for the future of his country.

Rarely in African history has so much positive political and economic transformation of a country been achieved in such a short time.

Suruma’s account of commitment determination, vision, and dexterity of the Ugandan government holds invaluable lessons in managing the still complex challenges facing the African continent

Current economy
According to an African Development Bank Group report, in 2013 Uganda saw the consolidation of macroeconomic stability and a gradual recovery of economic activity, with real GDP growth projected to reach 5.2 per cent in 2013 and 6.6per cent in 2014.

A fiscal and monetary policy stance focused on containing inflationary pressures has provided an enabling environment for economic growth by ensuring debt and exchange rate stability.

Uganda remains on track to achieve its Millennium Development Goal for poverty reduction by 2015 with absolute poverty continuing to drop, from 24.5 per cent in 2009/10 to 22.2 per cent in 2012/13.

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