Donors care less about us - Museveni
Left-Right: South Sudan president Salva Kiir, Rwanda’s Paul Kagame and President Museveni launch the SGR project in Kampala. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
No big deal. Donors, according to President Museveni, do not mind whether Uganda and Africa at large is developed or not.
KAMPALA:
President Museveni has scoffed at donors, saying ‘some or all’ don’t care whether Uganda is developed or not.
He was speaking during commissioning of the Malaba-Kampala section of East Africa’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) on Wednesday in Kampala.
“I have been in government for many years and I have come to a conclusion that some of our friends did not mind whether we are developed or not because no aid agency was ready to fund railway transport,” he said.
He said Uganda’s development partners had for a long time denied the country funding to construct the much needed railway.
The President also said Uganda would in the next two or three years not need external funding to finance its infrastructure projects.
He said the country would use proceeds from oil to pay for projects that will lead to the development of Uganda.
“We shall be having our own money from oil and even the Chinese will not have to suffer advancing us these huge loans,” the President said.
The President also said the SGR project will reduce the cost of doing business by over 50 per cent.
Africa, according to President Museveni, has in the last 100 years had no new modern railway built on the continent apart from Tazara Railway in Tanzania.
Key notes
Project link. The Malaba-Kampala section of the SGR is part of the Northern Corridor Integration Project which will run from Mombasa through Nairobi, Kenya to Kampala, Kigali, Rwanda and Juba, South Sudan.
Jobs created. This particular section is expected to create more than 15,000 jobs both for professional workers, assistants and support staff during the four years of construction.
