Tag: Development

Building Uganda’s Industrial Future: A Case Study of the Kapeeka Industrial Park

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

One of the model industrial parks in Uganda is the China-Uganda Liaoshen Industrial Park in Kapeeka, Nakaseke District. About 80 different industrial establishments are spread over 5.2 square kilometres, with each sitting on a minimum of 20 acres. The name of the park is a combination of “Liao,” from Liaoning Province in northeast China and “Shen” from Shenyang, its largest city, where the chairman of the park, Mr. Zhang Hao, comes from. The conceptual planning of the park was made by the China Northern Architectural Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd, and President Museveni laid its foundation stone in 2015.

In its design, it is a fully serviced industrial park with good road and water networks, onsite electricity and a one-stop centre for all business services. It has supporting offices and facilities, including commercial offices, leisure and entertainment areas, and recreational and sporting facilities like football fields and tennis courts.

The industrial park is designed mainly for investments in Agro-processing, building materials, textiles, light industry, assembling of household appliances and logistics and warehousing. Most of these are planned to undertake manufacturing using mainly local raw materials and supply both local and export markets. Where certain raw materials cannot be sourced locally, investors are free to import them to support their manufacturing process.

The idea behind this industrial park, which was conceived in 2013, is to support the economy through value addition. This vision is already being achieved, with textile factories producing quality merchandise exportable to Europe as well as serving the local market. There are also a number of factories that are into food processing, e.g. maize milling and making snacks out of dried fruits.

The government is working to ensure there is a market for the goods produced from the park. It has signed trade agreements with China, COMESA, Europe and other trade blocs. The agreement between Uganda and China is critical since it helps the country to export products from Uganda to China without tax. Such incentives are in place to enable manufacturers to expand and produce more to supply the markets. These are the market opportunities that should be presented to investors to attract them to start businesses in Uganda.

As the country develops its industrial capacity, there is a need for the government to invest more in road infrastructure, extend and ensure reliable power supply to the industries, and build sewage and water facilities. Water is specifically identified as a challenge because Uganda does not have enough capacity to supply to all plants, and sometimes, the electricity also does not meet the industrial needs. Therefore, the government should address the challenge of an unstable power grid.

The managers of the industrial park are keen to ensure that local communities benefit from its opportunities. For instance, most of the local materials are purchased from Ugandans. Most of the people employed are also deliberately recruited from communities near the park. There are also, of course, indirect jobs created in the supply chain, e.g., people providing housing facilities, food, and other utilities.

At the start of the project ten years ago, few Ugandans could manage the technology of the park. However, with time, there has been skills transfer and more people are now taking on skilled work in the industries. More Ugandans are already doing better in the marketing and management field, where they started taking part from the commencement of the park.

With time, more Ugandans will understand the business and also take control of factory activities. The tile maker, Good Will factory, has already trained thousands of Ugandans on how the factory works, and the more Ugandans get skilled, the fewer the number of Chinese instructors. The ultimate goal is to have the factories fully run by locals.

The park’s parent company is Zhang Group, an entity that had existed in Uganda for about 20 years by the time the park was launched. The group brings together four enterprises: Hash Security, Airang Hotels and Restaurants, Smartec Hisense products and Liao – Shen industrial park. It invested over $400 million in the park and created employment for tens of thousands of people.

The story of this (these) industrial park(s) is promising because of several reasons, one of which is the fact that it is modelled after similar and successful parks in China. When China’s growth trajectory was taking off, the government invited foreign companies from Japan, the United States of America and Germany to start factories and equip the local people with skills. After about 10 years, local Chinese were able to run their factories. This is the hope for Uganda, too – achieving skills transfer and domestic ownership of the commanding heights of our economy.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Centre.

Uganda’s Social Economic Transformation: China Has Proved it’s a Reliable Partner

Posted on By Joshua Kingdom

When credit agencies, banks, insurance companies, etc. based in countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany declared that they would no longer be involved with anything to do with the activities of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) back in 2024 despite their earlier commitments, things looked rather bleak for the project that had captivated the minds of Ugandans going back decades.

Rather than fall for the scare like everyone else however, the government of China elected to stand with Uganda at this critical moment. The then Special Envoy for the Horn of Africa Affairs of the Chinese Foreign Ministry H.E. Xue Bing alongside Beijing’s Ambassador to Kampala H.E. Zhang Lizhong paid a visit to President Museveni carrying a response letter to his request that  China come to Uganda’s rescue. In the document, President Xi Jinping who also doubles as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) expressed “full support” for EACOP and pointed out that if its promise came to fruition, the venture would “enhance socio-economic development for the region”.

What China demonstrated here then was that even with the complications that surrounded this project, the best approach towards the situation was one that sought to harness its potential while minimizing the downsides as opposed to opting for cheap popularity. This is what distinguishes a true partner from actors that look to take advantage of a country’s endowments when they get to know about them provided they can get away with it unscathed.

Indeed, the EACOP picture that has emerged post China’s involvement ably represents Beijing’s sophistication i.e. sustainability queries as well as the fate of project affected persons have been given priority but that has not deterred progress on what the overall endeavor had been expected to realize. As recent as mid-December 2025 thus, water prices in areas such as Kabayoola and Nseese in Sembabule District came down from UGX. 1,000 per jerry can to UGX. 100 thanks to EACOP associated corporate social responsibility campaigns. At the same time, the pipeline construction had generated at least 8,000 jobs and initiated $500 million worth in local procurement by the time it hit the 50% completion point (we are now past 75%) according to the Uganda Chamber of Energy and Minerals. This is to say nothing of the US$1–2.5 annual revenue that the pipeline will bring in once it has been completed of course.

The EACOP initiative though is best understood not as a one-off but as a piece that fits perfectly with a pattern that has characterized China-Uganda interstate affairs for a while. Take the field of infrastructure for which collaboration between the two countries stands on years and years of close ties for instance, and you will find several examples that equally represent this spirit. With Karuma Hydro (a plant first conceived in the late 90s), it was only after the government picked on M/S Synohydro Corporation Limited on top of securing funding from the Export-Import Bank (Yes, previous partners abandoned the venture) that the big dream finally came to see the day of light in 2024. Relatedly, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority has reported that the ongoing expansion at Entebbe International Airport has been enabled by a concessional loan from China that carries minimal interest.

Beijing’s role in Uganda’s Healthcare has been instrumental too. A fitting illustration here is the China-Uganda Friendship Hospital in Naguru which, though initially starting with modest goals, has been at the receiving end of huge donations from the CPC as the demand for its services have grown. This includes a $5 million grant given to the facility through the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) a little over a year ago.

China equally rose to the occasion during the 2024/2025 fiscal year when western donors announced that they would be significantly cutting malaria related aid in heavy proportions not least because of the ruckus brought about by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency gimmicks. In that case, Beijing’s embassy in Kampala sourced $1.1 million worth of anti-malaria drugs to fill the gap. To appreciate how much of a big deal this is, one ought to recall that the roughly 100,000 Ugandans that succumb to this sickness each other year mean that we come in seventh place on the list of nations that are worst hit by it worldwide.

There are many other examples that I could pick on to illustrate this further but one more should suffice given what we have already explored. The first half of 2025 saw coffee exportation to China in Uganda multiply by 190% thanks to the zero-tariffs policy entered under FOCAC early in the year. The sum-total of these scenarios then is an ally that has been willing to go through thick-and-thin with Kampala not only through words but vivid real-life incidents that back them just as much.

For Uganda and the current government in particular, one can safely argue that the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has been in position to fulfill most of their promises of mega projects the NRM party is currently partly campaigning on thanks to China’s win-win cooperation with Uganda.

The writer is a research fellow at the Development Watch Centre. 

 

China-Uganda Friendship: A Partnership Driving Economic Growth and Prosperity

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

China’s relationship with Uganda has played an inextricable role in developing our country into one of East and Central Africa’s major manufacturing hubs. Thanks to China’s commitment to invest in Uganda’s industrialisation, our manufacturing capacity now spans several sectors, from electronics to textiles, ceramics to steel, and more – all fuelled by factories and industrial parks set up with the support of Chinese capital and expertise. These industries have created jobs for Uganda’s burgeoning youth demographic, reduced the country’s import dependency, and fostered economic growth. We now have over 50,000 factories employing more than 1.4 million Ugandans, with tens of thousands of workers in Chinese-founded industries, such as Liao Shen and the Sino-Uganda Mbale industrial park.

The bilateral trade between China and Uganda has also been growing by leaps and bounds over the years, with the balance of trade also steadily improving. The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) analysed the dynamics of economic activities between Uganda and China in the last 28 years and established that the exports of Uganda to China have increased at an annualised rate of 25.6%, from $115k in 1995 to $54M in 2022. Additionally, in December 2023, China exported $116M and imported $5.75M from Uganda, making a positive trade balance of $110M. This gradual increase in our exports to China over time is the first promise of a better trade relationship between us, but there is more.

We also cannot overlook the significant influence of the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by President Xi Jinping in 2013 on Uganda’s economic growth and infrastructural transformation.  The BRI is aligned towards enhancing global trade and infrastructure. What spells BRI in Uganda is practically a mega infrastructure project, such as the Entebbe Express Highway, and the sprouting of hundreds of standalone factories and many industrial parks spread across different regions of the country. This has contributed to the expansion of our manufacturing sector, which consequently led to the share of manufacturing to GDP growing from 6.7% in 2000 to 16.5% by 2024, as per Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The broader industrial sector now contributes even more, 27.4%. About 40,000 Ugandans are directly employed in diverse Chinese enterprises, playing an instrumental role in the country’s economic growth.

Industrial parks such as the China-Uganda Liaoshen Industrial Park in Kapeeka, Nakaseke District, have been fundamental in Uganda’s economic transformation. The park’s parent company, Zhang Group, has existed in Uganda for over 20 years, and it brings together several enterprises, including Hash Security, Airang Hotels and Restaurants, Smartec Hisense products and the Liao – Shen industrial park. It has invested over $400 million in the park and created employment for tens of thousands of people.

In the Namanve Industrial Park are ENGO Holdings Limited and SIMI Technologies. These were the first electronics manufacturing plants in Uganda, both spearheaded by Chinese investors. Among the products produced there are mobile phones (feature phones and smartphones), laptops, tablets, chargers, USB cables, earphones, etc. These plants can manufacture about 2,000 feature phones, 1,500 smartphones, and 800 laptops daily, among other products. Although currently these plants have to import some Chinese components, the long-term goal is to have full-scale commercial production employing trained local workers. With time, Uganda shall drastically reduce its reliance on imported electronics by producing enough to meet local demands, including the production of a million computers annually.

Additionally, one of the leading factories manufacturing plastic products and packaging materials for beverages, processed goods, medicines, oils and pesticides is Heng Shang Plastics (Bugolobi, Kampala). This company has contributed to import substitution and improved supply chains since the factory is local, yet many of these goods were previously obtained from China.

Looking specifically at employment, today, more than 500 workers are employed in Unisteel Investment Uganda Limited, a Chinese-backed steel production industry established with a $100 million investment in 2024. Steel manufacturing plays a critical role as the cornerstone of the industry and construction sectors, something very important for Uganda’s development projects.

In the Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park, we have over 40 companies doing important work such as assembling smartphones, televisions, weaving textiles, and rolling steel. These companies employ around 10,000 workers daily. These factories/companies are strategically located in Mbale, which is Uganda’s third largest city, and home to millions of people who provide both labour and markets. Being a border city, its location also has the advantages of a well-developed transport network and complete infrastructure. The goods from the factories there can be distributed easily to countries of East Africa, North and South Africa, the Middle East and West Asia.

Through the China-Uganda South-South Cooperation Phase II, Uganda’s food production has been immensely boosted, and the livelihoods of farmers improved. The Government of Uganda identified limited knowledge and skills, trade and investment as the main constraints to its agricultural development and food security, which adversely affected the food and nutrition security and livelihoods of over 70 percent of its population. Since 2015, Uganda, China and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) have worked together to support Ugandan small-scale farmers in boosting their production through sustainable technologies, under the FAO-China South-South Cooperation (SSC) Programme. The project has scaled up priorities in developing crop, horticulture, livestock and aquaculture production, as well as introducing new technologies, including renewable energy, agromachinery and improved water harvesting and irrigation methods. China and FAO invested USD 12m (Shs44b) in this project, benefiting more than 9000 farmers. Additionally, China’s agricultural partnership with Uganda can be appreciated through projects like the Kibimba and Doho rice schemes. In the Butaleja district, local farmers attest to benefiting from hybrid rice farming.

China is also a major actor in the transformation of Uganda’s energy sector. It has built the Karuma and Isimba dams, which are key hydropower stations for the electrification of our country. In February 2022, CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Cooperation) became the largest Chinese investment in Uganda with over US$ 4.7 billion. Since then, it has been vigorously participating in helping Uganda establish a sound oil industry system, aiming to create more than 20,000 jobs for Ugandans.

China and Uganda also maintain increasing people-to-people exchanges in fields of health, education and human resources. For instance, since 1983, China has sent 209 medical experts to Uganda and provided free treatment to millions of Ugandans. On the frontier of education, China has, over the years, provided hundreds of degree scholarships and over 5,000 tailor-made training courses to Ugandans in areas of agriculture, medical care, public administration, computer science and infrastructure, among others.

The significance of Uganda’s friendship with China cannot be overstated. This is a relationship we should maintain and promote, because it is to our mutual benefit.

Senior Research Fellow, Development Watch Center, Uganda.

 

 

Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park: Revolutionising Uganda’s Manufacturing Sector

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

Chinese investments have played an inextricable role in Uganda’s emergence as one of East and Central Africa’s major manufacturing hubs. The dividends from the industriousness of Ugandan industries have transformed not just Uganda but also several other countries whose consumer markets depend on Ugandan-manufactured goods, including the DRC and South Sudan, to mention a few. Uganda’s industrial capacity spans several sectors, from electronics to textiles, ceramics to steel, and more – all fuelled by factories and industrial parks set up with the support of Chinese capital and expertise. Not only have these industries created jobs, especially for Uganda’s bulging youth demographic, but they have also reduced the country’s import dependency and fostered economic growth. The country now boasts over 50,000 factories employing more than 1.4 million Ugandans, with tens of thousands of workers in Chinese-founded industries, such as Liao Shen and the Sino-Uganda Mbale industrial park.

Uganda’s manufacturing revolution is closely linked to the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by President Xi Jinping in 2013, because BRI is aligned towards enhancing global trade and infrastructure. What spells BRI in Uganda is practically the sprouting of hundreds of standalone factories and many industrial parks spread across different regions of the country. The success harvested from this has been the expansion of the contribution of the manufacturing sector to our GDP from 6.7% in 2000 to 16.5% by 2024, as per UBOS. The broader industrial sector contributes even more, 27.4%. About 40,000 Ugandans are directly employed in diverse Chinese enterprises, playing an instrumental role in the country’s economic growth.

ENGO Holdings Limited and SIMI Technologies were the first electronics manufacturing plants in Uganda, launched in 2019 in Namanve Industrial Park. The firms behind this factory are ENGO Holdings Limited and SIMI, both spearheaded by Chinese investors. Among the products produced there include mobile phones (feature phones and smartphones), laptops, tablets, chargers, USB cables, earphones, etc. These plants can manufacture about 2,000 feature phones, 1,500 smartphones, and 800 laptops daily, among other products. Although currently these plants have to import some Chinese components, the long-term goal is to have full-scale commercial production employing trained local workers. With time, Uganda shall drastically reduce its reliance on imported electronics by producing enough to meet local demands, including the production of a million computers annually.

One of the leading factories manufacturing plastic products and packaging materials for beverages, processed goods, medicines, oils and pesticides is Heng Shang Plastics (Bugolobi, Kampala). Previously, many of these goods were obtained from China. However, today we have import substitution and reliable local supply chains because the factory is local.

Employment that transforms lives

Over 500 workers are employed in Unisteel Investment Uganda Limited, a Chinese-backed steel production industry established with a $100 million investment in 2024. For a developing country like Uganda, steel plays a critical role as the cornerstone of industry and construction sectors. From its use in manufacturing machinery to providing structural frameworks for infrastructure, it is easy to see the significance of Unisteel’s investment.

Sino-Uganda Mbale Industrial Park is the first national industrial park constructed overseas by Hebei province with the approval of the local government, which is of great significance to the BRI. Hosting over 40 companies producing smartphones, televisions, textiles, and steel, and employing around 10,000 workers daily, the park is one of 22 state-level industrial parks in Uganda, which were proposed by President Museveni and China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, and constructed by the Tian Tang Group. Mbale City was a very strategic location for this industrial park. It is Uganda’s third largest city, home to millions of people who provide labour and markets, and is also an extremely important border city. Its location also has the advantages of a well-developed transport network and complete infrastructure. Goods from the factories here can be distributed easily to countries of East Africa, North and South Africa, the Middle East and West Asia.

Economic Contributions

Guangzhou Dongsong Energy Company (Uganda) Ltd. is a subsidiary of the Guangzhou Dongsong Energy Group, headquartered in China. The company sits on 1,600 acres of land that is part of the China-Uganda Free Zone at Sukulu. It started operation in October 2018 following a US$62million investment in a bio-organic fertiliser plant, a steel and glass manufacturing plant, a brick baking plant, a steel plant and other related agricultural products. The Guangzhou Dongsong Energy Company (Uganda) Ltd has a 21-year mining lease extendable for 15 years to develop the Uganda-China Free Zone at Sukulu Hills into an industrial complex. Currently, the Chinese-based company is the first to introduce purely organic fertilisers on the Ugandan market, with production standing at over 300,000 metric tonnes per annum. It also produces Sukulu Concrete blocks for construction, with plans to add Sukulu Metal and Sukulu Glass. The company hopes to reduce the Uganda’s expenditure on imports of the industrial sector, which stands at US$377million, US$60 million for fertiliser and US$23 million for glass annually, respectively.

There has been a significant contribution of Chinese investors to the development of Uganda’s industrial capacity. Capital from China has laid a solid foundation for the country to become a manufacturing hub in East and Central Africa. The road to industrialisation and economic self-reliance is now paved. It is up to us to start the journey.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Centre.

 

 

Learning from China: Adapting Development Strategies for African Contexts

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

Although it may not be possible to have a comprehensive cookbook of China’s rapid development recipes, a few policy frameworks implemented in the country can provide guidance. The Chinese development model has not been uniform. It has been at every stage punctuated by state-led industrialisation alongside export-oriented growth, and strategic global engagement, among other factors/ policies. Africa sets its sights on China for direction, as a late developer, because China has mastered the art of leapfrogging growth or catching up. However, given the disparate and diverse political and economic characteristics between the two entities, we need to carefully tailor and adapt what works and leave what doesn’t, from the Chinese blueprint of late and rapid development.

There is a unique political economy framework that made China’s development success possible. Whereas Deng Xiaoping is highly credited for instituting transformative reforms, there was a strong, centralised state which he leveraged to implement pragmatic policies, i.e., special economic zones (SEZs), massive infrastructure investment, and education and technical training to spur human capital development. Deng was also granted a monopoly of power rendered by the Communist Party, which allowed him to have continuity of his policies under the stability of a cohesive political structure. It was also workable to implement policies on a largely ethnically homogenous population, with a social history of collective discipline embedded in Confucian cultural ideas. Such moral compulsion from social norms and habits can hardly be transplanted, but it facilitated the rapid policy implementation we see in China. Additionally, industrial transformation was timely in a nation which was poised to reform its large agrarian economy.

African nations emerged out of colonialism with significant infrastructure gaps. The post-colonial contexts they find themselves in require that they assert economic sovereignty and push for state-led development, which fits well with the Chinese model. It has, indeed, been China at the frontline of supporting Africa’s move to bridge infrastructure gaps, supporting such projects as Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway and Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway, under the BRI, among countless other projects in several African countries. Moreover, China never lends itself to political interference in Africa as a precondition for its investments, as is common with Western aid and development finance, which comes pegged with prescriptions and conditionalities of all manner, eroding away the autonomy and agency of African states.

The diversity among and within the 54 African nations, however, implies that the continent’s political economy is widely different from China’s. We have so many ethnicities, are corrupted by colonial legacies, plagued by electoral volatility undermining policy continuity, fragmented by opposing governance structures, which ultimately complicates state-led development initiatives.

Weak institutionality and corruption are a serious hindrance to Africa’s development efforts. Weak institutions make China’s state-led, long-term development strategies hard to replicate, because governments face significant opposition and illegitimacy, making the long-term stability that shelters growth absent. Corruption disorients public-spiritedness, turning ruling regimes into cash-and-carry kleptocracies. This is the challenge for countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, making the implementation of large-scale projects unsuccessful. There is a need to earn legitimacy for African governments by ensuring merit-based and accountable governance that serves all citizens without accentuating ethnic differences. Traditional leaders should also not be merely co-opted but fundamentally involved in local and national development programs, so that they view state development policies as an inter-collective program in which they and their co-ethnics have a stake, and must therefore take responsibility and involvement.

While China’s development leveraged export-led growth to satisfy the global demand for manufactured goods, Africa finds itself in a different context. It is a resource-dependent continent; its economies survive on the extraction and sale of primary commodities like minerals, oil, or agricultural products. The key to transforming this status quo to increase returns rests in domesticating ownership and ensuring the locals have a higher stake in the businesses and industries. This will nip profit repatriation and rent-seeking in the bud. Local ownership here does not mean that indigenous people must be the only ones with economic rights, but rather that even companies owned by foreigners must register locally and transfer the most profitable work of their business to Africa.

Whereas China’s development was easy to mobilise in a socially cohesive population, Africa’s ethnic diversity should not be mourned as a challenge; rather, African governments should embrace traditional and communal participatory approaches to social mobilisation towards development goals. Africa’s ethnic groups were historically assimilationist, and this cultural heritage must be encouraged as opposed to perpetuating colonial divisions that politicised divisive ethnicity.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Centre.

 

 

 

Austria’s Role in Uganda’s Development and Humanitarian Response

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

Neither geographical distance nor cultural diversity has limited the connection between Austria and Uganda. Over the years, the two countries have developed a relationship through cooperation in development, cultural exchange, diplomatic engagements, and initiatives related to humanitarian causes, among other areas. The bilateral ties between the two countries have been significantly bolstered over the years. Austria has provided immense development aid to Uganda since it first established relations. Let us examine the development relations, diplomatic ties and cultural exchanges between Austria and Uganda.

It was during Uganda’s political upheavals of the 1980s that Austria-Uganda ties were first knotted. At the time, the country was experiencing a war against the government of Milton Obote (Obote II). During the wanton human rights violations and economic difficulties that had taken over the country, several Ugandans found haven in Austria. Among those were compatriots of Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who would himself visit Austria in 1985, when he was leader of the NRA. This guerrilla army later captured power and liberated the country in 1986. The “Platform Austria-Uganda,” established in 1986, was one of the initial dialogue and collaboration platforms between the two nations. Later, in 2003, the initiators of the platform founded the “Austro-Ugandan Friendship Society” to increase the interest in Uganda through common events, information, and to support projects in Uganda.

In 2012, Austria transferred Uganda to the jurisdiction of the Austrian Embassy in Addis Ababa. Most of the bilateral relations between the countries are focused on development cooperation. Austria is also actively involved in the political dialogue with Uganda in the EU context, alongside other donor countries from Europe. Both Vienna and Kampala host very active Honorary Consulates. However, since 2015, the AußenwirtschaftsCenter in Nairobi has been responsible for Uganda and the countries on the Horn of Africa.

Comparatively observing, Uganda ranks higher than most African countries in the levels of commitment to development policy, which the country gets from Austria. One can say that Austrians are fond of Ugandans, since Ugandan artists have regularly performed in Austria over the years. Austria also occasionally participates in the programme of the EU’s Europe Day, the Bayimba International Festival of the Arts or the Euro-African Film Festival. Uganda’s biggest cultural center, the famous Ndere Center, was opened in 2007 with large Austrian generosity, and serves as the pivot around which Ugandan music, performance, and culture revolve.

Uganda has been a focal point of the Austrian development cooperation since 1993. Since 1991, the Coordination Office of the Austrian Development Cooperation in Kampala has been responsible for coordinating programmes and projects in the country. The field office’s work is focused on water supply management, community hygiene, justice, law and peace in the North of the country.

The Austrian development cooperation in Uganda does a lot of social work in Uganda. Recently, it supported the training of over 200 vocational studies students at the Nakawa Vocational Training College under the Water & Sanitation for Refugees & Hosts (GIZWatSSUP) project. WatSSUP is a Water Supply and Sanitation for Refugee Settlements and Host Communities in Northern Uganda.

The Austrian Development Agency (ADA) is a big funder of this project. Austrian partners recognise that Uganda plays a central role in managing Africa’s refugee crisis, since we host more refugees (1.9 million) than any other African country. Therefore, we are a pilot country for implementing the United Nations’ refugee support measures. Uganda’s Integrated Water and Environment Refugee Response Plan (WESRRP) regulates the long-term supply of water and sanitation services to refugee settlements and host communities. While humanitarian organisations largely offer short-term solutions, WESRRP facilitates the transition to the long-term provision of services by national institutions, and Austria is at the helm of supporting this.

Working with local Think Tanks and Civil Society Organisations, Austria is also keen to address governance challenges in Uganda and other East African countries. Some of the beneficiaries from Austrian support in this endeavour are organisations like Kituo Cha Katiba, an NGO that addresses the problem of governments in East Africa not respecting their constitutions, which leads to gross human rights violations, marginalisation, among other challenges. Austria also shares a strategic partnership with the World Food Programme on ensuring food and nutritional security as well as livelihood interventions for refugees in Uganda.

Uganda’s Justice, Law and Order Sector (JLOS), which includes about 17 institutions with closely linked mandates of administering justice, maintaining law and order and human rights, to developing a common vision, policy framework, unified objectives and plan over the medium term (e.g. Ministry of Justice, Judiciary, Police, Prisons, Human Rights Commission, etc.), is also significantly supported by Austria. The Austrian Development Cooperation’s support to JLOS is grounded in the ADC-Uganda Country Strategy (2010 – 2015) under which 3 strategic areas of intervention in Uganda are highlighted, i.e., access to justice, mainstreaming of gender and human rights standards in the administration and delivery of justice and promotion of alternative conflict resolution and reconciliation mechanisms.

After years of cooperation, the future looks bright for the continued bilateral ties between Austria in Uganda. The enduring relationship between the two nations should, however, involve more people-to-people exchanges, in order to learn more about each other and deepen our bonds. But still, the robust partnership we share transcends geographical space and cultural diversity.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Center.

Time Africa to Adopt China-Scale Development Commitment

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

Africa is tied to conventional, rudimentary, unambitious, lethargic modes of governance and political-economic behaviour. We pursue cliches of democracy and development and all related norms and conformities that have been taught to us by the developed, Western world with full blindness to our crucial realities.

We lack a grand strategy for development. We are adapted to incrementalism in everything – hoping to make progress through small, gradual steps rather than largescale, ambitious reforms. This road we are on is unlikely to deliver development. And the window within which Africa must catch-up up will eventually close.

There is no guarantee that we cannot be conquered again if we don’t stand up quickly and hold a place as a peer with all developed nations. This child-like place that Africa occupies in the world is not just humiliating but may eventually be exploited through new forms of imperialism in the future in ways we cannot comprehend today.

Think about the defining factors for the survival of nations in the world today; Artificial Intelligence (AI), synthetic biology, quantum computing, robotics, and clean energy. Where is Africa’s involvement or contribution in the global competition to advance in these fields? We only seem to be offering raw materials. In fact, we are the raw materials.

In a world with advanced AI systems, where we face risks of artificial general intelligence (AGI) becoming misaligned with human values, what would Africa do to defend itself against attack in a war where AGI is optimized by an enemy country to cause catastrophic harm based on racial identity? As a continent vulnerable to pandemics, what contribution is Africa making to the development of synthetic biology to enable rapid vaccine development?

Our net contribution to the development of any of these technologies that will shape the future is close to nothing. But the consequences of this may not be as simple as missing out. Lagging behind in the next decades might slide us into new forms of recolonization unless we embrace a development model with the ambition, scale, and discipline exemplified by China’s rapid transformation.

The era and error of foreign aid inculcated in us a dependency on foreign/Western powers by which we ceded sovereignty and agency. Such dependency also drove us to withdraw our commitment to industrialization, infrastructure development, and self-reliance. Western masters disincentivized African governments from developing domestic capacity for economic sustainability because African leaders could beg or borrow to fill gaps in their national budgets. The result is where we are; capable of almost nothing in a world of tremendous opportunities.

Given the urgency of these matters, China’s example for rapid socio-economic transformation from a predominantly large agrarian society full of peasants, to an industrial power with vast skill and intellectual resource, should be studied with a goal to be appropriated and domesticated by African leaders.

Unlike Western nations where capitalism evolved organically and defined how society is governed and resources are distributed, China’s transformation emerged out of massive state-led investment in infrastructure, education, and industry, coupled with a relentless focus on self-reliance. It is the only country where the free-market enterprise developed highly without distorting the politics of the country. Because of this, capital has not succeeded in eroding the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC). Capital has not undermined the leadership of the Chinese people.

China also exposes the lie that has been told to developing countries especially in Africa – that it takes democratisation in the Western form, to develop. We have suspended all efforts and thought towards development by being tied in an endless web of political bickering over cliches like democracy, human rights, freedom, etc.

China has guaranteed the rights and freedoms of her people outside the normative governance models of the West. It has liberated over 800 million people from poverty without ticking any boxes that the West dictates to Africa as prerequisites for development.

Without Western democracy, China constructed 37,000 kilometers of high-speed rail between 2000 and 2020. Without Western democracy, China has urbanized over 500 million people, and lifted 800 million out of poverty. Without Western democracy, the CPC prioritized long-term planning over short-term populist gains and accountably executed the aims it set out to achieve for its citizens, with a discipline in execution unimaginable in the West.

Africa must suspend many political distractions and pursue a tunnel vision of development and socio-economic transformation. We are 1.4 billion people with a median age of 19. This is a demographic resource with potential to scale development – it is a tremendous work force. But the window to achieve this will not last forever. Our young people will grow old. The peace we enjoy is not guaranteed to last forever. We must coordinate our commitment to this goal when we still can.

The Writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Center.

China’s path to comprehensive rural revitalization: Challenges and solutions

Posted on By Allawi Ssemanda

On 25th February 2021, Chinese President Xi Jiniping announced “complete victory” in the Country’s fight against extreme poverty. As the world louded China’s great success, President Xi observed; while his country had succeeded in eliminating absolute poverty, “the most challenging and arduous tasks we face in building a modern socialist China in all aspects remain in rural areas” and announced China’s strategy to ensuring rural development calling it a “major task in realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

If critically analysed, rural revitalisation can largely be achieved by ensuring comprehensive strategies that target revitalization of rural areas which oils wheels of modernization especially in the sector of agriculture – the common characteristic of rural area.

Five years since China announced its success against extreme poverty, this opinion highlights some strategies Chinese government, enterprises and people – largely farmers can take – shoulder to shoulder in efforts to realise rural revitalisation as the country marches towards its second  centenary goal of “building China into a great modern socialist country in all aspects.”

First, ensure enough and steady power supply. Energy is a major driver of socio economic transformation of any society. It makes innovation and both small and large scale industrialization take place. Such small and large small scale industries come with among others important multiplier effects like employment opportunities which is key in the fight against poverty.  The development of the solar industry Jinzhai county in Anhui is credited for transforming the province’s 218 villages once registered as poverty stricken, helping lift out of poverty 89,700 people that were registered as poor. The World Bank argues that China’s remarkable economic growth is partly possible due to the country’s capacity to produce and supply energy to meet the country’s growth of energy consumption, thanks to the Chinese government and enterprises that continue to focus on energy development, especially clean energy.

Supporting and encouraging start-ups in rural areas is another strategy that can easily spark rural revitalization. Through start-up programs in rural areas, people can be empowered to gain entrepreneurial skills which is key in starting and running successful businesses. In Nanhai, Foshan, Guangdong province for example, local government with Chinese enterprises introduced “double nurturing” and nurturing industries, started entrepreneurial training targeting rural people helping them with start-up projects which registered significant progress in the development of small scale industries and individual business. Consequently, over 526 entrepreneurial leaders were trained with skills helping them to start their businesses. As a result, the county’s efforts of empowering rural poor was realised with over 5,087 people registered as poor being lifted from poverty.

Supporting local amenities and tourism is another strategy China can embrace to achieve Beijing’s goal of rural revitalization. China is blessed with countless natural resources such as lakes, rivers and mountains almost across the country. Save using such rivers and other water sources for agriculture and, natural resources such as water sources and mountains, if improved, can be used to attract  both local and international tourists. As President Xi Jinping noted in 2005, “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.” Tourism sector can be magic. For example, other than paying to access tourist areas, there are other multiplier effects that come with tourism development. Improved security, infrastructure especially roads, hospitality sector like hotels which all contribute to employment opportunities and source of income are associated with the sector! In Shibadong village in Xiangxi, Hunan Province, after adopting the strategy of using local tourism as a way of fighting poverty, the village registered success that it was deregistered from the poverty register as locals income grew from 1,668RMB to 12,128 RMB.

Relatedly, China can use its huge size, big population and many ethnicities, to fast track its rural revitalization programs by encouraging ethnic integration and supporting them to use their local resources to bring about meaningful social economic development. Such strategies can help in revitalization of rural areas with minority ethnics where people proactively engage in production work than mindsets of “waiting, depending, and asking for help.” This strategy worked for example in Towankh Magget village (village 7), in Xinjiang Uygur, where government embarked on empowering locals through project of “one brand in one village” which saw the use of local resources to develop black fungus production, and a walnut deep-processing plant which all have contributed to social economic development of the area while leaving locals lives improved.

The other very important strategy that can help China in realising rural revitalization is putting people at the centre of everything. When people learn that whatever is being done is for their good and development, they all embrace and support such efforts. Development becomes easy as people are involved and willing to do anything possible to support what they know is theirs. As President Xi observed while opening 20th National Congress of the CPC; “this country is its people. The people are the country…bringing benefits to the people is the fundamental principle of governance.” Put differently, it’s clear to Chinese leadership that to achieve great rejuvenation of Chinese nation, the most difficult tasks are still in the country side. Considering discussed strategies and more relevant ones, we can safely argue that China is on the march as the country eyes realising her centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all aspects.

Editor’s Note: This article was first Published by China Global Television Network – CGTN. 

Uganda, China is Here; Let Economic Revolution Begin!

Posted on By Shemei Ndawula

Recently, at my weekly book club meeting at FEMRITE Bukoto, I met a white foreign policy enthusiast, Tobias. Introducing myself as a fellow of Ugandan and Regional think tank Development Watch Center, he excitedly invited me to share coffee with him at a popular restaurant along Acacia Avenue popular with foreign tourists and Ugandan elites. “They now have ChinaToday” he gleefully revealed. I stared back at him with an unmistakably perplexed expression on my face. A little confused, he asked “you know China Today, right?” And I fumbled with words for the next few seconds as I tried to explain to him how surprised I was that someone with a hazy Australian/ British accent would walk up to me to discuss China Today. With every passing month of the past decade, it’s becoming more and more clear that China is finally here.

The phenomenon that is China’s rising cooperation in the African continent is often treated with suspicion and mistrust especially because China in many ways has revolutionized the way world powers associate with Africa. Previously, Africa was postured as a perpetual backland of underdeveloped, under privileged, uneducated and uncivilized communities. This is why most of the previous foreign interventions have been geared towards crisis mitigation and not capacity building. It is said that at the turn of the past century, the erstwhile great Ottoman Empire was described as the “Sick man of Europe”, one can argue that by the end of the previous century Africa was successfully postured as “the sick man of the world”. Indeed, on 13th May 2000, United Kingdom’s The Economist branded Africa “The Hopeless Continent.” Yes, UK’s major New Paper baptized entire African continent “Hopeless.”

And that is why, over the last decade Africa has seen its partnership with China deepen significantly. This is because the People’s Republic of China does not necessarily always come in as a crisis mitigation crusader (although they were valuable allies in the recent COVID-19 pandemic and similar) but as a partner in capacity building. Having made so much progress with its own economy and social welfare over the past three decades, China is perhaps the most qualified among the biggest world economic powers to advance to Africa experience-based insight because these are changes that have happened within our lifetime and prove that any nation, through sheer social cohesion and visionary leadership can transform its fortune and rise on the global stage. In many ways we are following in their footsteps, China walked so that Africa can run.

A brilliant example of this is the green nuclear power plant that is in advanced planning stages to be set up in Buyende (about 150 kilometers North of Kampala Capital City).  The plant which is projected to commence operations by 2031 will add a whopping 2000 megawatts to the national electricity grid which currently stands at 1500 megawatts. This will spur the further industrialization of Uganda attracting more Foreign Direct Investment within the country as well as valuable jobs for the local population. Additionally, this green renewable energy will cut down on the carbon footprint of many industries and manufacturing plants who can then export their products all over the world without need to pay for the carbon credits for environmental pollution, nuclear energy is practically carbon free making it one of the most environmentally friendly means of power generation.

Previously, prior attempts to invest in and set up nuclear energy facilities in Uganda and elsewhere on the continent have been subject to harsh criticism especially by western powers who view Africans either as harboring undisclosed desire to produce nuclear weapons or simply too ignorant to run the facilities effectively. Not only are these assumptions baseless but they are also quite ironic considering where they’re coming from. As the world positions itself in the march from fossil fuels, the only way African countries can ever hope for a chance at energy self reliance is by exploring all the best available options instead of the previous energy apartheid where only the most powerful and privileged countries were allowed access to nuclear technology. Given China’s stellar track record especially in nuclear research and its willingness to train the natives and share its technology, Uganda can get worthwhile value from its rich Uranium natural deposits instead of simply peddling the mineral for sale on the world market. This development is a major step in the right direction of Uganda becoming a continental manufacturing hub within the next decades.

What makes the Chinese multilateral development and diplomatic strategy an astounding success when it comes to Africa relations is the ability of China to develop broad based development and capacity building initiatives. In Uganda, right on the heels of the declaration of the intention to build the Buyende Nuclear power plant is the reveal of a proposed Uganda-China industrial park to be setup in Tororo and projected to create over 100,000 jobs. To connect all these the Chinese Exim bank as well as the government of China will be funding the Construction of the Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Kampala. This broad-based strategy if implemented well can spark an economic revolution that places Uganda and the greater East African region in the vanguard of the economic and technological rising of Africa.

Shemei Ndawula, is a Senior Research Fellow, Development Watch Centre

A Better Deal: Why Africa is Turning to China for Development

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

Across historical times, empires that sought world domination eventually met with decline and decay. The American Empire in particular and Western countries in general are currently undergoing a gradual erosion of influence, power, and stability. Left to their own devices, blind and deaf to the calls for reform in how they interact with the rest of the world from the global south, the West/America is teetering in the footsteps of empires of yore – the Roman, the Ottoman, and the British empires. Having enjoyed global prominence for much of the 20th and 21st centuries, America is entering a period of decline.

The warning signs of decline are as clear. Unprecedented political polarization, widening economic inequality, crumbling infrastructure, rising national debt, and a polarized media landscape at home.

On the world stage, we are contesting America’s global dominance. China, which identifies with our “global southern interests,” has emerged as a formidable competitor, outpacing the United States. Whether in advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, or infrastructure development, China is dwarfing America. China’s Belt and Road Initiative exemplifies its ability to expand its influence globally, particularly in Africa, Asia, parts of Europe, and Latin America. Yes, even Europeans who are supposed to be cousins of the Americans in global politics are now preferring to buy goods like electric cars from China, because it is excellent and cheap.

America’s global leadership is waning on many fronts. It is likely to lose the war in Ukraine (Yes, it is its war against Russia). It lost the war in Afghanistan. It lost the war in Libya. America has burnt its taxpayers’ money on countless senseless wars and lost. But the most fatal war it is losing is the war for hearts and minds. More African/global southern countries/people are turning East for development support and comradeship in international relations.

We in the developing world did not create the international geopolitical vacuum which China is beginning to occupy. By departing from globally unifying interests and selfishly pursuing a self-righteous and self-destructive global order where it has the only and last say, America surrendered its comradeship with the nations of the world to the more self-effacing China, which promises and practices peaceful co-existence and shared development.

The relationship between Africa and China has evolved significantly over the past two decades, presenting a range of development opportunities for African nations. Africa is the world’s last most underdeveloped, poorest continent. We urgently need to transform from being agrarian economies to becoming modern, industrial nations. China has heeded our call and emerged as a dominant player in infrastructure investment across Africa. It is now narrowing a critical annual infrastructure investment gap of about USD 50 billion. Chinese firms have flocked to Africa, financing and constructing roads, railways, dams, airports, and establishing industrial parks. These are investments critical to economic growth.

In stark contrast, American investments in African infrastructure and manufacturing are significantly going lower with every passing year. The United States Department of State recently struck off Rwanda from the list of AGOA, implying Rwanda can no longer export goods to the United States tax-free. The cause of this drastic decision was that Rwanda decided to develop its domestic textile industry thus proscribing importation of second-hand clothes from America.  If indeed the United States was interested in the structural transformation of such a small, poor country like Rwanda, why would it be ruthlessly against developing its small textile factories?

Instead, America’s brazen self-righteousness is focused on decreeing governance and institutional frameworks around the world. It doesn’t matter what problem you’re dealing with; America knows it can be solved if you govern yourself according to its prescriptions and its model. No context, no questions. This is the hubris that China has emerged to challenge, not by force but by providing an alternative for the world’s developing countries.

China’s approach to investment in Africa is also characterized by a focus on long-term partnerships that drive industrialization and capacity building. Development is a long-term process. It requires sustained support no matter the circumstances. This makes China a reliable partner for developing countries because it does not intervene in the political governance of these nations. And it does not put conditions on its investments dependent on how these countries are governed. This is something America failed to recognise. But switching how it supports African governments based on occasional disagreements with laws passed by African parliaments or how elections are managed or how presidents behave, etc, America fails to be a long-term reliable partner on the development journey of African nations. China’s willingness to commit to long-term projects without imposing immediate political conditions stands in stark contrast to American strategies that often favour short-term results or regime changes when “American expectations” are not met.

It is not difficult to see why African states are going to cast their lot with China for a long time to come. China has positioned itself as a key player in Africa’s development journey. On the other hand, America has refused to hear us out. And is diving head-first into its global decline and decay.

The writer is a senior research fellow at the Development Watch Centre,