Why business community should shun violence and instability

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OPINION

By Olive Kigongo

The newspaper headline recently about an armed gang robbing 13 shops in six days using motorcycles should disturb every serious member of Uganda’s business community. Not just because of the losses suffered by those traders in Wakiso and Mukono, but because it reminds us how fragile economic progress can be when violence, insecurity, and disruption are allowed to creep back into daily life.

For business to thrive, security must be boringly predictable. Shops must open and close without fear. Traders must stock goods knowing they will sell them, not run for their lives. Customers must move freely. Once violence and criminality become normalised, confidence drains out of the economy faster than any tax or inflation ever could.

As the business community, we must be very clear: violence and disruption are not neutral events. They are anti-business. They destroy trust, interrupt supply chains, and raise costs for everyone. Insurance premiums go up, operating hours shrink, and investment decisions are postponed or cancelled altogether.

It is important, therefore, to speak honestly about history. Over the last four decades of NRM rule, it is the business community that has been among the biggest beneficiaries of Uganda’s economic revival—largely because of the stabilisation of security and the steady expansion of economic space.

There was a time in this country when leaving home in the morning came with no guarantee of returning in the evening. Curfews, roadblocks, ambushes and random violence were part of daily life. Under such conditions, commerce cannot function, wealth cannot be created as no one would want to invest with the future uncertain. The relative security Ugandans have enjoyed over the last decades has been the single most important foundation for private enterprise.

Infrastructure tells a similar story. Today, complaints about traffic jams on the Kampala–Masaka road are a luxury compared to the past. There was a time when the same journey took six hours because the road was so bad. Poor roads meant higher transport costs, spoilage of goods, and entire regions cut off from markets. Improved roads, however imperfect, have knitted the country together economically.

Access to credit has also transformed the business landscape. There was a time when borrowing from banks required heavy collateral and came with interest rates as high as 50 percent per annum. Credit was not a tool for growth; it was a punishment. Liberalisation of the financial sector and improved regulation have expanded access to credit, enabling businesses to invest, expand, and survive shocks.

Telecommunications, too, have been revolutionary. Many young entrepreneurs today cannot imagine a Uganda where getting a telephone line took years after application. Communication delays strangled trade. Today, mobile phones and digital platforms allow businesses to coordinate suppliers, reach customers, move money, and innovate in ways that were once impossible.

Economic liberalisation itself deserves acknowledgement. There was a time when government did everything—running supermarkets, hotels, schools, and factories—crowding out private initiative. Liberalisation opened space for entrepreneurs, encouraged competition, and rewarded efficiency. It allowed Ugandan businesses to emerge, fail, learn, and grow.

Perhaps most importantly, markets have expanded. Today, Ugandan traders buy and sell across the region and the globe. Passports and telegraphic transfers were once privileges, not tools of commerce. Now our businesspeople source goods globally and sell into regional and international markets, creating jobs and wealth at home.

All this progress rests on one fragile pillar: stability.

That is why the business community must shun violence, criminality, and any form of disruption—whether politically motivated, criminal, or opportunistic. We must cooperate with security agencies, invest in lawful protection, and refuse to normalise disorder as a means to any end.

Uganda’s prosperity has been built slowly and painfully. It can be destroyed quickly if we forget the lessons of our past. Business flourishes in peace, predictability, and trust—not in fear.

At Uganda National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (UNCCI), we are under no illusion about what is at stake in this election. We recognise the distance we have come over the last four decades in improving the country’s economic environment, and we would love stability maintained, if only to allow us to improve the situation even further into the future.

The writer is President, Uganda National Chamber of Commerce & Industry