Yes, we can ban imported buses

Two key issues, according to Mzee Mashurubu, came out succinctly in President Museveni’s Independence address to the nation. One,  the ban on imported and assembled buses, and two, the three Ps that define Uganda, according to the chairman of the Asian ( Indian?) Association in Uganda, as quoted by the President. 
Uganda, in the eyes of the Asians, is peaceful, pleasurable, profitable, thus the three Ps.  And there is an uncanny linkage between these two if we ignore the third one, namely imported used garments, linen and related items. The President had earlier raised this as he addressed the nation on International Teachers Day, wondering what became of the owners.
   
Mzee Mashurubu says President Museveni is right in banning imported buses.  One catch though. But a few basics on vehicle manufacturing first. Let us take a bus as our working case. 
Like other products of heavy engineering and high technology, a complete-built bus has components that come from different specialised manufacturers, through lateral and vertical integration. 
The main system components for a 60+1 seater bus are the engine (the power generating house),  the cooling system (water or air, the most common being water type  via the radiator),  the transmission system (the gears  and  shafts), the chassis (the backbone) the drive train (steering wheel, steering rod,  and tyres),  and the brake system (cylinders, drums,  and brake shoes and brake linings). 
Others are the suspension system (springs and shock absorbers), the electric system (both for lighting and remote control operations). With these, a vehicle manufacturing plant will produce what is technically called a cowl-chassis bus: A moving frame without the body/house.  Most manufacturers specialise up to this stage, outsourcing  building of the bus body to a separate, but supervised contract manufacturer. 

The cowl-chassis bus components will have come from a minimum of 20 specialised manufacturers, with the brand-owner making the engine, whose make gives the vehicle its brand name.  
 Being independent or vertically integrated companies, the component manufacturers must produce these quantities sufficient for them to run as viable business entities.  
The same applies to the bus-body builders, who equally outsourced the key materials and components - steel sections and bars,  mild steel plates or fibre-glass,  bolts and nuts, screws, rivets and staples;  the floor from heavy-duty checkered steel;  tempered/laminated glass,  rubber moulding, latches and locks, synthetic leather and foam for the seats and inner trimming;  primers, undercoats , paints , and varnishes.  
Wrapping all these components to bring the bus to life is the human skill at different levels of sophistication. From the engineer (who has mastered the invisible ‘magic’, the ‘logy’ part of technology), vital in every component, from the engine torque, piston firing order, to the structure of the tyre [radial or biased; 2-ply or 3-ply], and its tread pattern [high-way, off-road or both]), to the welder boy, who has mastered why a given position on the bus body frame needs  a  gas rod,  while another requires  electric soldering, at what angle, in what quantities... Every nuance matters. 
Yes, Mzee concludes, we can ban imported buses, but only at EAC level.  With essential specialised component manufacturers, body-builders and related value-chain stages well planned and spread across East Africa, as viable business entities. 

Kenya has a high degree of lateral integration in the motor vehicle manufacturing sector, with complete-knock-down (CKD) and semi-knock-down (SKD) plants, while  Tanzania  has SKD bus-building  plants. Uganda‘s Kiira-led initiative is at SKD stage, as evidenced by the Kayoola bus.  
Our Parliamentary Committee on National Economy, National Planning Authority, Ministry of EAC Affairs, and EALA legislators,  owe us a post-Covid   EAC Agenda.