Museveni on fuel
President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has made it clear that moving forward, the use of fuel in transportation must be substituted.
During his address on current affairs on Wednesday night, President Museveni explained that the current fuel crisis is not about to change because it has been influenced by climate change and global external factors like the ongoing war in Russia and Ukraine .
“Russia is one of the biggest producers of oil, and the Europeans in their wars with Russia decide to embargo their oil ,causing the prices to shoot up, apart from the climate change which affected fuel, then the war,And the fuel goes into all other products, For instance in Uganda even transporting Matooke uses Petrol or diesel, this leads to high food prices because the carrier is expensive,” He says
The President reiterated that interfering with market prices in fuel and other skyrocketing prices would set a bad precedent, causing the public to assume all is well.
He went on to say that the future of petroleum is slowly diminishing, and that Uganda should embrace the use electric cars, motorcycles and the use of trains.
“Because of no more exploration, the little fuel that is there is very expensive. Even if the war ends, the prices are likely to remain high.The correct way is to start moving away from petrol to electric cars and using the railway for transport, especially of cargo. The good thing is that we have started manufacturing electric buses here. They need Shs 20billion to make more buses at Kiira.” says Museveni.
The President also stated that the government will not offer subsidies, tax cuts because taxes are meant for development and subsidies alike would minimize development once offered.
Museveni on fuel
He explained that the government should instead invest in bigger projects like palm oil, roads, and buses among others.
“Taxes are meant for development. We want to build new roads and other projects and when we cut taxes or subsidize commodities, the projects are stopped and money is taken for eating and buying fuel to drive cars. Therefore, the mistake of subsidies and tax cuts are two; you mislead people not to know that the situation is bad and also kill their ability to economize. In the end, you might transform the high prices into shortages.” he said
Museveni said his government is going to intensify its promotion of palm oil growing in areas such as Kalangala, Buvuma and Maruzi.
“So, instead of the money being put into subsidizing the present mistake, we would rather put the money into a safer way; so we are building more capacity for our palm oil,” says Museveni.
Currently,petrol buys between Shs 6500-7000 a liter.
