Tag: 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.

 

 

Education is a Corner Stone of China’s Investment to Uganda

Posted on By Joshua Kingdom

“In order to further strengthen the mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of China and Uganda, and to further enrich the contents of the Comprehensive Strategic Cooperative Partnership between China and Uganda, the Chinese Embassy in Uganda welcomes citizens of Uganda to apply for the 2025/26 Chinese Government Scholarship.” This statement appeared in a call issued on the Chinese Embassy website in October 2024 and last Friday, the institution fulfilled her word as Ambassador Zhang Lizhong flagged off the successful thirty nine students that will now go on to study at different Universities in China.

These scholarships are an annual programme courtesy of the China Scholarship Council targeted at students who hail from countries other than China (of which Uganda is among) wishing to study at any of the two hundred seventy partner universities. Attaining this opportunity is very prestigious as it comes with a coverage of all tuition, a monthly stipend, plus plane tickets to China as well as for the return journey upon completion of one’s degree. This window is open for those interested in Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate of Philosophy studies.

The arrangement is part of a long standing tradition of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) investing in education in Uganda that goes as far back as the 80s. A related contemporary example is the Chinese Embassy Scholarship Project at Makerere University (Mak) that has been awarding checks of UGX. 2,800,000 a semester to learners from across several departments since the 2018/2019 academic year.

Moreover, the Chinese business community in the country has heavily invested in education of Ugandans too. As recent as May this year, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation awarded scholarships to three hundred students in the districts of Hoima and Kikuube at the levels of Primary school, Secondary school, and University in continuation of a corporate social responsibility campaign that it has carried out for more than a decade. The totality of these and more initiatives point to a commitment by PRC to contributing towards real progress in the country for as it is understood in Economics, education is one of the key indicators of economic development.

This owes to the fact that a skilled labour force harnesses the other factors of production in more and more innovative ways. Additionally, an educated populace reinforces conditions that indirectly bring about growth. By earning more for example, a large consumption base emerges which in turn attracts investment thereby creating more jobs. A well-studied country equally guarantees proper service delivery and the advantages that accrue thereto. Take proper healthcare; it helps ensure that people are in good physical and mental conditions hence they become more productive.

What is more, is that China is educating Ugandans in a quality way an attribute necessary for the realization of the outcomes we just listed. As a 2025 World Bank study has indicated, there is a lot of disillusionment especially in developing nations over the fact that the increase in education levels has not translated into improved standards of living as initially envisaged precisely because skills transfer remains a big impediment in the curricula modalities of these countries.

In contrast, obtaining one’s degree in Beijing or any of the locales in China comes with the said ingredient. As a matter of fact, thirty of the Universities that the students going to China study at are ranked among the world’s top five hundred including Tsinghua and Peking that come twelfth and thirteenth per the Times Higher Education rankings. For context, only one Ugandan University (Mak) appears in the world’s first six hundred. But it is not just that the individuals that go to these institutions attain better education, some of them get to pursue cutting-edge courses that are not offered anywhere in Uganda. Two of these are Artificial Intelligence related degrees as well as those concerning the construction of hi-tech bridges.

It is not surprising then that many alumni of these ventures have gone on to contribute significantly to different sectors of our economy upon their return. Indeed, Ambassador Lizhong affirmed that previous beneficiaries of the embassy’s scheme have gone on to become leaders in business, government, and academia among other spheres of influence in his remarks to this year’s batch of scholarship awardees.

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

The Horn of Africa Peace and Development Conference: A nexus between GSI, UN SDG-16 and Economic Prosperity

Posted on By Musiime George

Evidence shows that fragile peace is a significant handicap to prosperity in many parts of the world.  In the horn of Africa, a region where peace has mostly been elusive, the Horn of Africa peace and development conference (HoAPDC) emerges as a link between China’s Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the UN SDG-16 on peace, justice and strong institutions. The HoAPDC framework reframes regional stability not as an end but as the engine for broader regional transformation.

Amidst a challenging global environment, China by localizing solutions engages and encourages nations to find collaborative solutions to regional problems as a prerequisite for realizing shared prosperity. First held in Addis Ababa in June 2022, the third edition of the (HoAPDC) was hosted in Kampala at the end of July 2025. A major distinction between this meeting is that it followed the Non-aligned movement (NAM) and was hosted by Uganda- during the country’s chairmanship of the group; especially after solemn commitment were made in regard to security at the last NAM summit. But we might wonder what is special about the Horn of Africa anyway.

The horn of Africa, is a region consisting of several east African countries including Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, Kenya and Uganda. The region’s geopolitical significance stems from its strategic placement between; the River Nile, on the interior, both the Red sea and Indian ocean on the exterior but also providing access to the Mediterranean ocean. So, the horn of Africa is not merely a strategic maritime access point to Africa’s interior but also Europe and Asia.

conversely, the region has also been one of Africa’s prime security hot spots over the decades. For instance, today, aside from Al Shabaab being a salient threat in Somalia, there is unrest in Sudan’s Darfur region, simmering ethnic tensions in Ethiopia etc. This exists against a historical backdrop of civil war in Somalia, but also insurgent attacks on development projects exemplified by the tragedy of July 2007 when Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) insurgents attacked the Zhongyuan oil field in Ethiopia resulting into 74 fatalities and the kidnapping of 7 Chinese nationals. Such incidents not only threaten foreign investments but also blight national prospects for prosperity.

Today, China is not only the continent’s biggest trading partner, but also a major source of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) on the continent. Based on this, some analysts for example the Netherlands institute of international relations have advanced the argument about China’s vested interest in extending its global influence and ensuring that its nationals operate in a secure environment. However, African countries- nations of the horn of Africa in this case have an even stronger impetus as the past has proved how disruptive unrest and a lack of security can be to development.

Certainly, China is not standing by to wait for peace to reign over Africa before it can make the decision to cooperate with the continent. Instead as a trailblazer and champions of shared prosperity, China knows from its experience of rapid modernization amidst a stable peaceful environment that peace and security do indeed catalyze development. Undeniably, this idea has existed at the core of the horn of Africa peace and development conference since its inception as noted by former Ethiopian president Teshome Mulatu at the 2022 edition. This time, the message was carried by China’s special envoy to the region Xue Bing as he stressed a need to explore the potential for cooperation, safeguarding common security and deepening exchanges of government experiences.

Viewed as the global security initiative (GSI) in its implementation phase, the HoAPDC is like its parent underpinned by strong commitments to maintaining security in both traditional and nontraditional ways, common comprehensive cooperative sustainable security, and stresses dialogue as the best approach to resolving disputes between nations. The goal of the platform is to find lasting solutions to security challenges of the horn of Africa as an inroad to the overarching goal of shared prosperity. Regional cooperation on peace and security fosters a secure environment- an ingredient for sustained growth in the horn of Africa. In turn the sought sustainable security would have substantial benefits to the global economy as the international crisis group  found in the past that; onboard security experts, insurance, and detours to avoid the horn of Africa in 2010 alone cost the global economy $18 billion.

More importantly, the HoAPDC prescribes a solution to a region that’s considered to be a global security hotspot on account of its assemblage of a high security threat index, geostrategic importance, and ongoing conflicts. Unrest in the Sudan， the Al Shabaab terrorist enterprise in Somalia and the occasional piracy activities continue to have spillover ramifications for the region whether it is by an influx of displaced persons, or jaundiced economic growth. Accordingly, the UN agency for refugees UNHCR operational update March 2025 estimates that between the horn of Africa and the Greatlakes region, upwards of 24.5 million people either live as refugees or in internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps. Therefore, this framework represents more than a practical step towards achieving UN SDG-16. By guaranteeing stability it unlocks both regional economic activity and trade which in turn form a reliable launch pad for regional economic growth as a pathway to shared prosperity.

In a global environment characterized by a superfluity of security and economic challenges, the horn of Africa peace and development conference is a step on a continuum of China’s steadfast march towards its vision of building a global community of shared future for mankind. Through such frameworks, historically unstable regions like the horn of Africa are inspired to engage in constructive dialogue to find localized solutions to regional challenges. And these solutions, by limiting outside interference are more likely guarantee  win-win outcomes.

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

 

Lessons from China’s Agricultural Revolution for Uganda’s Rural Transformation

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

As a late-developing country, there are remarkable lessons Uganda can draw from China’s transformative journey in alleviating widespread poverty and modernising agriculture. Over the last four decades, China has lifted 800 million people out of poverty, a feat unparalleled in history. Part of the strategy through which this rapid and broad transformation was achieved came via agricultural modernisation and well-targeted poverty alleviation schemes. In Uganda, we still have a majorly agrarian-based economy, with over 70% of the population earning a livelihood from agricultural production. Even then, only 23.7% of the GDP of the country comes from agriculture, with services and industry contributing the rest. This underperformance by agriculture is mainly due to the use of backward farming methods, which subsequently lead to low productivity, which problem China overcame, and can thus provide compelling lessons.

Conceived in 1978 and established in 1982, the Household Responsibility System (HRS) is the current arable land system in rural China, and is highlighted as the foundation of China’s agricultural modernisation. Its major contribution was that it incentivised farmers by granting them long-term user rights on land, which led to increased productivity. This saw an 8.2% annual growth registered from 1978 to 1984, thus causing a significant improvement in the incomes of rural dwellers. Besides this, China managed to develop high-yield varieties of crops by investing immensely in mechanisation and agricultural research and design (R&D). While Uganda’s rate of agricultural mechanisation stands at around 10%, China ranks at 72%, which explains its high yields. And whereas China invests about 5% of its agricultural GDP on R&D, Uganda spends less than 1%.

Farmers usually make big post-harvest losses because they do not have access to secure storage facilities and are disconnected from markets due to dilapidated rural roads. China, therefore, invested heavily in developing rural infrastructure, which reduced post-harvest losses and connected farmers to markets. Today, even the remotest areas have access to markets, and food production has seen significant improvement and stability. As early as 2018, roads had been paved in 98% of China’s villages. The internet age also opened opportunities for farmers to practice digital agriculture through mobile apps, which link them directly to consumers, hence increasing profits by cutting out predatory middlemen from the trade loop.

In 2013, China began the serious implementation of programs directed towards poverty alleviation. They used a multifaceted strategy, combining well-curated projects of agricultural modernisation with targeted interventions in key areas. Poor households were carefully selected by authorities, and solutions tailored to their needs and challenges were applied. Some communities got a fiscal push through microcredit injected into their businesses, while others received vocational training to skill them for productive enterprises. Other highly disadvantaged communities were relocated to areas with more economically viable employment opportunities. Thus, by 2020, over 9.6 million people had been relocated by the Chinese government to areas with better access to services from their previous settlements, where living conditions were inhospitable and economically backwards. Since rural areas often suffer structural barriers to progress, such as poor healthcare and dysfunctional educational infrastructure, the Chinese government also invested in rural education and healthcare to increase school attendance and literacy rates.

The strategies employed by Uganda’s government have so far not succeeded in alleviating poverty or transforming agriculture. From NAADS to OWC, and recently PDM, change seems to happen only in the vocabulary of government programs, not the conditions of those targeted. We still have 21% of the population surviving below the international poverty line, most of whom are part of the 80% rural residing population of the country. Uganda’s farmers remain mostly peasant and dependent on the probabilities of nature, like rain-fed agriculture, for economic survival.

One of the main obstacles preventing wide-scale commercial agriculture in Uganda is the complex land tenure system, which divides land into customary, freehold, leasehold and Mailo land systems. This mix has rendered insecurity and land disputes commonplace, thus not only hindering business but also tying down capital in court battles due to the countless suits registered over land annually. China’s HRS system, where land is state-owned, can be a good model for Uganda to benchmark reform. Pilot projects can be launched whereby farmers are given long-term user rights over large parcels of land to try out technologically advanced farming methods for improved productivity.

We cannot hope to have transformation when only 20% of rural roads are paved. The government must invest in transport infrastructure linking productive agricultural hubs to markets in urban centers. We also must have food processing factories to add value to our harvests and export to the international market. But roads and railway lines are simply hard infrastructure. We must also invest and harness soft infrastructure like the internet, because e-commerce platforms are key in revolutionising market access for farmers, as happened in China.

All this must be done while paying attention to Uganda’s unique political and economic context, since factors like Uganda’s highly heterogeneous ethnic spread can demand attention for localised approaches to poverty alleviation programs and land reforms.

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

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.

BRICS Foreign Ministers Brazil Meeting: What is Uganda’s Status?

Posted on By Musanjufu Benjamin Kavubu

On Monday 28th of April, BRICS foreign affairs ministers met in Brazil and they were hosted by Mauro Vieira, their counterpart, they gathered in Rio de Janeiro to discuss the group’s role in addressing global and regional crises and their common response to the trade war with the United States. Uganda’s foreign affairs minister did not make the trip.

On January 1st 2025 Uganda became a partner state of BRICS, as part of its journey to join the organisation. While there was excitement both in Uganda and across the continent, it’s very vital to go about this development with realism and pragmatism. There is a new process in place to become a member of the BRICS. Since the 3rd BRICS summit when South Africa joined in 2010, there were no additions to that formation until 2024 when the Arab Republic of Egypt, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, United Arab Emirates, Republic of Indonesia and Islamic Republic of Iran joined something that spurred the global South as a multilateral world was being birthed.

During the 16th BRICS summit in Kazan Russia, a framework was put in place to ensure those sovereign countries that found it logical to join were able to. At the moment a state must first be an observer state and fortunately Uganda never underwent this phase because it was prior to the Kazan developments, instead it acquired the partner states status and then the final stage will be member state. Uganda’s journey to join BRICS started on 11th November 2024 when the foreign minister Jeje Odongo Abubakher met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov who extended a formal invitation for BRICS partner state status along with 13 other countries.

By January 1st 2025 Kampala had met the criteria that was put in place in the Kazan Summit in 2024. This implied that Uganda had proved herself as a partner and was ready to start the integration phase as a member state. The criteria has aspects like economic stability, geopolitical alignment, institutional reforms and consensus approval from the existing member states. The 10th member to be admitted, Indonesia was averaging an annual economic growth of about 5% before it proved itself for membership status. Geopolitically a partner state should commit to the organisation’s tenants like equal sovereignty. Countries should comply with the forum’s financial and governance standards like anti-corruption measures and in the past Brazil was able to veto Venezuela’s bid over electoral disputes. Most likely Uganda’s magic bullet will be its strategic location in East Africa as a trade gateway for the other members of BRICS and its historical role in the global South.

There are incentives that will motivate Uganda along with the other 8 countries that attained partner state status in January 2025 to strive for Member state status. BRICS is not anti-West but instead it’s an outfit that is taking up the gap of the post West dominated world. For Uganda to move from partner state to a Member of the BRICS, a number of strategic wins are on the horizon, from economic outlook to geopolitical and development space. Uganda, will have access to the New Development Banks (NDB), the famous BRICS bank. The financial institution offers alternative funding to specific infrastructure projects with better loan repayment as opposed to the IMF and World Bank.

Members of BRICS have direct access to the markets of other members which offer economic diversification. Uganda can look up to growth of its agriculture and mineral export with an already boom in coffee output and expected Petroleum production. On the economic front, BRICS is also trying to come up with a framework that is Western sanction-proof with lower dependency on the US dollar, something that can also stabilize the Ugandan Shilling if membership status is attained.

Member states of BRICS also have the opportunity to work together on technology transfer, on renewable energy for example under the new Environmental working group that was put in place during the Kazan Summit in 2024. Collaborations on such aspects can bring about a robust industrial phase that the global South needs to undergo. Geopolitically, BRICS membership offers huge leverage diplomatically especially when it comes to the United Nations setup and the need for reform including more African representatives especially on the sticking issue of the security council and the unjust veto power factor.

For Uganda to be more pivotal and influential in East Africa, BRICS membership would go a long way to facilitate its position as a regional power house, which is already a key player in Somalia’s rebuilding and the establishment of the sovereignty of South Sudan as a new country in the world. BRICS has proved itself an a balancing force that has seen China and India considered to be global rivals work together, this can give a chance to Uganda to widen it’s foreign policy beyond the established world hegemony and former colonial masters.

The beauty is that the partner status phase of the BRICS gives Kampala the flexibility to maintain its western alliances with Washington and Brussels but at the same time being watchful of over reliance on any side which is the essence of multipolarity. The stage is also a time to align with the BRICS core principles while safeguarding national and Pan-African interests on the way to Member status.

For now, the path is set and clear in the Kazan Summit declaration of 2024 on how Uganda can attain full member status of BRICS and the work should be cut out for the respective government department, agencies and ministries to cross the line. Membership Status will bring about academic cooperation and research which is vital for innovation, there a global South common interests, a promising acceleration of nuclear power output to change the energy sector, BRICS members have demographics that transition to a market for what could take up Uganda’s potential agricultural output and most importantly membership status will provide equality among the sovereign nations for starters in the formation and in the long run at the United Nation.

The writer is a research fellow at Development Watch Centre.

 

China Town and the Ugandan Economy: A Debate on Growth and Consumer Choices

Posted on By Nnanda Kizito Sseruwagi

One of the most difficult yet overly simplified ideas in economics is the economic growth of nations. Economists and pundits seem to always analyse by analogy, connecting dots backwards to define unique or even random experiences of developed nations and claiming that they developed because of certain economic policies they pursued.  The truth is that we know very little to certainly tell what or how countries achieve economic growth. Often, developed countries experience booms and bursts, or even the periods under which their economies experienced fast growth are always disparately distributed, with different characteristics and sometimes similar characteristics that never guarantee growth.

China is a good example to illustrate this point. It is a country famous for pursuing socialism, yet today, there is argaubly growing worry that China, a socialist country, is fundamentally restructuring the capitalist world in ways never before imagined. How is a communist country now being accused of hyper-capitalism? Isn’t this a big irony?

Back to China Town in Uganda; a hypermarket that opened in September and saw an overflow of customers who flocked to it in droves, driving the police to close it down for some time because of the security threat from the mob of buyers that had crowded the parking space at its Lugogo location.

Some critics have expressed fear and warned that China Town spells doom to local entrepreneurs in downtown Kampala who are losing business opportunities because all customers are now flocking to the China store to buy goods at astronomically low prices.

Some have observed it as the newest trend highlighting an already existing, broader issue of global capitalism, where multinational corporations undermine local economies.

I would not interpret or understand China Town as comparable to Western multinational capital at the helm of global capitalism because I see human agency both from Africans/Ugandans and Chinese traders to enter a mutually beneficial trade relationship. This is different from the state-centric phenomenon that exploitative multinational corporations often come with. I think this is also related to the common misinterpretation of all ‘‘Chinese’’ activities under the umbrella of ‘‘China.’’ For instance, industrial parks in Uganda established by the government are usually mistaken for Chinese enterprises because they are constructed with the support of the Chinese. But there is a difference between “made in China” and “made by Chinese.” The point is to have domestic industries, and what makes them domestic is that they serve the interests of the nationals, are run by nationals, and the value of the products is domestically harvested. Even if there are Chinese advisers in the industrial parks, it would not make them Chinese industries.

The question to answer about the China Town phenomenon is: Whom does the China Town business serve?

Droves of customers flock to the supermarket because they are voting with their feet and wallets and are saying, “This serves our interest!”

True, many traders in Kikuubo and Kamapala road may be losing business to China Town, but they are also selling foreign goods, imported at the cost of depleting our country’s foreign exchange reserves. The only debate they can have is as regards customer satisfaction, and it seems customers are not satisfied with paying expensively for “fake” products from Ugandan traders, yet they can buy similar products at half the price in China Town.

I would have argued differently if the fake products sold by Ugandan traders were Ugandan goods because then I would have the understanding that we need to support Indigenous innovation and support domestic manufacturing if it is to improve over the years and give us better products while also growing the size of our economy through manufacturing. But this is not the case.

Local traders in Kikuubo, as President Museveni has emphasized to them often, are simply Ugandans who promote foreigners to leach on Uganda because they are very content with investing their money in importing instead of supporting local manufacturing.

The alternative viewpoint I have on China Town is that it might actually be the engine that supports the growth of the Ugandan Economy in some ways.

How?

By providing Ugandans with affordable high-end goods such as electronics, stationery, and other items needed to perform work more effectively, China Town is likely to greatly improve the productivity of workers by availing them tools to efficiently work and increase output.

This cannot be said of expensive shops in Kampala which many Ugandans cannot afford to buy from to improve their work efficiency and general living conditions, yet they are also importers of foreign goods.

In conclusion, I am not claiming certainty of knowledge as far as predicting what the transformative factors for Uganda’s economy will be. But in analysis, local traders have no locus standi to accuse China Town of affecting the economy. The economy is built by Ugandans who go about their work, and they need tools to work. What is wrong with them buying those tools quite cheaply from a China Town supermarket?

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

Celebrating Fruits of China’s South-South Cooperation Projects in Uganda

Posted on By Joshua Kingdom

In June this year, a three year South-South Cooperation (SSC) agriculture project between the governments of Uganda and China as well as the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will come to a close. As we look to a renewal that is almost certain, we can take a moment to reflect on the remarkable milestones arrived at during the years in which the partnership has run.

Having commenced by the agreement titled “Technical Assistance Under the South-South Cooperation with the People’s Republic of China in Support of the Development Strategy and Investment Plan 2010/11-2015/16 in the Republic of Uganda” back in 2012, and further extended one more time before its current dispensation, the SSC’s endurance owes to its results which cannot be overstated.

During the first and second phases therefore, there was an introduction of crop varieties that best responded to the needs of local farmers, the most impressive of which is perhaps proso millet. Its attributes made it more suitable for planting than the local finger millet– it grows for a shorter time (75 days rather than 90), requires less grains in planting (5kg per acre instead of 25), bares more yield (up to three times), and is drought resistant. Also witnessed, was astounding realizations in cases that involved diary farming where cows are reported to provide at least seven liters each per day up from just two.

The present SSC is not only interesting because it builds on these numbers however, but also because it makes part of a broader framework in which China has in recent years led an effort of helping contribute to the faster realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Dubbed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), this program singles out eight SDGs that Beijing feels require specific attention for the sake of the developing economies post Covid-19. This is further true now that 2030 is not far off.

In his 2022 address to the ministerial meeting of the Group of Friends i.e. the umbrella of nations and organizations that support the GDI cause, Chinese Foreign Minister (FM) Wang Yi, among other things outlined improvement in agricultural practices as key in realizing SDG 1 (ending poverty). To this end, he highlighted that, his country would world over restart the SSC which had up to that point concluded.

The FM further spelled out bold measures to accompany this arrangement that Uganda has since benefited from e.g. an agreement for technical support entered by China’s Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development with FAO along with donation of data imperative for policy making to the United Nations like on arable land and forest coverage provided by the SDGSAT-1 satellite.

Interwoven around four objectives (development of aquaculture value chain, supporting livestock improvement, establishment of a technological transfer base, and development of high yield rice and foxtail rice) thus, it comes as no surprise that the period between 2022 and 2025 has been even more successful.

The SSC project during this time in the country has ensured that farmers in the areas of focus have very highly educated experts at their disposal for consultation something that greatly turned around their fortunes. In terms of the broader picture, there have been several collaborations between in-line institutions and their colleagues in China. Most notably, joint research by Shanghai Agro Biological Gene Center and the National Agricultural Research Organization resulted into the release of WDR-73, a genetically modified variety of rice that is incredible in its yield and doubles as drought resistant.

Food and Agriculture Organisation Uganda country Representative  Antonio Querido (maroon shirt) with Chinese ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong (3rd right) the fingerling stocking activity at Aquaculture Research and Development Centre in Kajjansi on June 12, 2023 (Photo: Daily Monitor/ABUBAKER LUBOWA )

There has also been several sponsored visits of Ugandan officials to different regions of China for purposes of benchmarking best practices as well as in brokerage of associated policies. While attending the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last year thus, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, and Fisheries Hon. Frank Tumwebaze entered an agreement with the General Administration of Customs of the Republic of China that allowed Uganda to export aquatic life and Chilies to the over 1.4 billion people market of China.

According to the minister, this was also the first time that Uganda would be exporting the second product to any part of the world there demonstrating China’s commitment to walk the talk. Therefore, as we approach the end of this partnership, considering the multitudes of success it came with, celebrations are in order. Viva  China-Uganda Cooperation.

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