Agriculture minister Frank Tumwebaze says he has lodged a formal protest against the idea of donor staff/consultants taking the lead in developing project proposals for loan financing in Uganda.

He took to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday (May 4) and said it bothers him that on a daily basis, they are in ministry boardrooms stuck and banging tables over loan projects that prioritize ‘software’ interventions over real tangible outputs such as diagnostic labs and mechanisation equipment.

“I have personally written to the ministry of finance protesting/ taking issue with the idea of donor staff/consultants taking the lead in developing project proposals for loan financing. They construct their ‘own priorities’ and somehow impose them on MDAs [ministries, departments and agencies of government]. Sad,” he wrote.

The minister thanked President Yoweri Museveni whom he described as “my leader” for plainly putting to them the observation that the main reason there is no growth in Africa is that the growth factors are neither funded nor understood.

In his post, Tumwebaze also quoted the President as wondering, “Why is it easy for the World Bank to give us loans for seminars to eat chapati in the name of capacity building instead of loans for private sector-led growth, manufacturing and value addition, and irrigation to stabilize agriculture.”

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are currently Uganda’s leading sources of expected grants and concessional loans.

However, in August 2023, the World Bank announced that it was halting new loans to Uganda because of a new anti-gay law, which it said contradicts its core values.

It said it was committed to helping all Ugandans without exception to escape poverty, access vital services, and improve their lives.