What Ugandans expect to hear in Museveni’s Sunday address

As President Museveni prepares to address the nation on Sunday on the current economic situation in the country, experts are eager that he will explore several remedies to reverse the high commodity prices.

In a tweet yesterday, Ms Linda Nabusayi, the senior presidential press secretary, said Mr Museveni “will this Sunday May 22, 2022, at 8pm address the nation to update Ugandans on the current economic situation”.

 “The address will be broadcast live from Nakasero State lodge. Please save the date and tune in to all TVs and radios,” she added.

Mr Julius Mukunda, the executive director of Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), said the President should talk about mechanisms that Ugandans can explore to have more money in their pockets so that they can cope with the high cost of living.

“For example, the current talk to scrap government funding of UPE is ridiculous at this time. This is because if UPE is scrapped, parents will spend more money on paying school fees, hence taking away the little money that they have,” Mr Mukunda advised.

He added: “I want him also to be tougher on health service delivery. Health is another big expense….”

Further, Mr Mukunda was of the view that the President should encourage Ugandans to produce more food so that we spend less on buying it.

Likewise, an economist, Dr Susan Kavuma, said she expects Mr Museveni to advise Ugandans to look for cheaper substitutes to the hiked commodities.

“There should be some effort made to control the high prices. However, since this is laissez-faire economy, so it might not be possible to fix commodity prices but we can look for cheaper substitutes,” Dr Kavuma advised.

Suggestions

“…Or look for ways of increasing people’s incomes by say, increasing their salaries. Ideally, in such situations, you either increase someone’s income or encourage cheaper substitutes,” she added.

Prof Augustus Nuwagaba said he expects the head of state to talk about how to internally increase the production of oil, especially palm oil, hence depending less on imports from China and India, which, he said, are now expensive.

“We cannot continue depending on the crude oil prices from China and India that are very expensive. This is because so many things go up if the prices of crude oil go up since fuel has a big bearing on transportation of products and produce,” the Makerere University don said.

He also advised Ugandans to only drive their cars when it’s very necessary and opt for public transport on some days.

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