CLOSE to $260m (about sh508b) worth of goods was traded between Uganda and southern Sudan last year, Nelson Gaggawala Wambuzi, the trade state minister, has said.
The minister added that the goods to southern Sudan tripled. In 2006, goods worth over $60m were traded between the two countries.
Wambuzi was speaking at a party organised to bid farewell to Atipo Orone, the ministry’s former permanent secretary, at the Management Training and Advisory Centre (MTAC) in Kampala on Friday. Orone retired from public service last year.
Four other ministry staff also retired. They were Odoki Okiru, the former principal accountant at MTAC and Ruth Achom from the Soroti site centre, Joseph Kiiza, a former commercial officer and David Bamuleseyo.
Gaggawala challenged the ministry’s staff to ensure programmes like the ‘One Village One Product’ strategy succeed so that every village is empowered to produce something to sell.
“Earning power in urban centres is going down, therefore, measures should be put in place to improve the income of the rural people,” Gaggawala noted.
He urged district leaders to help their people improve production and income, adding that people should avoid from consumer goods and focus on commercial production.
Rev. Simon Lokodo, the industry state minister, noted that domestic and foreign tourism at the Entebbe Education Centre and national parks across the country, had increased.
He added that the ministry would boost the tourism sector to make it the country’s highest income earner.
Meanwhile, Kahinda Otafiire, the tourism, trade and industry minister, has said graft is crippling some government programmes.
“We have revived co-operatives, but the challenge we have is to fight corruption, greed and abuse of office by some of you.
“This is derailing some of the Government programmes,” he said in a speech read by Lokodo.
