The Presidential Press Secretary Linda Nabusayi has announced that the head of State will on Sunday speak to Ugandans on the current economic times.
This update was posted on Nabusayi’s social media platforms on Thursday morning, it reads;
“President Museveni will this Sunday May 22, 2022 at http://8.pm address the nation to update Ugandans on the current economic situation. The address will be broadcast live from Nakasero State Lodge,”Nabusayi said
The President’s address comes as the country has been hit hard by inflation, causing a heavy rise in prices of essential commodity prices including Sugar, Laundry soap, fuel among others.
While addressing senior government officials at Kololo ceremonial grounds on Labour Day, President Museveni attributed the hard economic times to global effects of the Covid 19 pandemic and ongoing war in Russia and Ukraine.
Museveni explained that the above factors had led to scarcity of raw materials in a world where demand is high. He further advised Ugandans to look for substitutes to some items like bread for Cassava since, there are interruptions in the supply of wheat.
“If there is no bread eat mwogo (cassava). Africans really confuse themselves. You’re complaining that there’s no bread or wheat, please eat mwogo. I don’t eat bread myself,” Museveni said.
The President further assured the public that the government was working towards a more lasting solution to rectify the shooting commodity prices.
“For me am not worried about increased prices. If we handled corona, what can we not handle. We shall find solutions. We are talking quietly to Western Europe and Russia. We shall brief you at the right time. I am not worried because we have a solution,” Museveni said.
However, Ramathan Ggoobi, the new Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance thinks otherwise. Ggoobi recently intimated that the government will not be interfering with the prices of goods. He stated that it would be bad economics to interfere with market prices by offering tax cuts or regulating them.
“Subsidies tend to take money to the wrong people, not the ones you intend [to help]. Here we call them mafias. They can easily organise themselves and take all the subsidies. So, the Treasury will be funding them. We aren’t going to control prices either. That is bad economics. You control prices, you create so many unintended consequences,” he said during a media briefing in Kampala.
Members of Parliament have tried to demand for tax waivers on rising commodity prices in vain.
Forum for Democratic Change(FDC)’s Dr.Kizza Besigye has on Thursday renewed a strike over the high ecomic prices asking government to offer a solution.
