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Senior presidential advisor on special duties Odrek Rwabwogo has warned regulators and ‘big’ people frustrating their attempts to improve Uganda’s exports and build consortiums.

He issued the warning in a statement he shared on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday, May 20, 2024, a day after addressing over 10,000 people from across the Ankole sub-region on issues of exports and building consortiums.

The meeting took place at Booma Grounds in Mbarara city under the auspices of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID), which he chairs.

The meeting at Booma Grounds in Mbarara city. (Courtesy photo)

“The regulators and ‘big’ people who stand in the way and selfishly work for themselves will be torpedoed by the massive number of ordinary people who understand the value of our message to their lives,” he said.

Rwabwogo, who is also an entrepreneur and farmer, noted that embulire tefa yonna, as the Luganda saying goes.

“Meaning that in a large gathering of listeners, some will take the message and teach it to others,” he said.

He also noted that to change Uganda’s understanding of production, processing, standards and exports, it will take consistent effort to understand external markets and their connection with homestead production.

He thanked their PACEID team, the education ministry’s Directorate of Industrial Training and the various leaders of the districts in Ankole who did the mobilisation and the training and also led the certification of their people.

PACEID was commissioned by President Yoweri Museveni in March 2022 and it identified 13 key exports that will be targeted for aggressive growth in production and revenue over the next five years.

These are coffee, sugar, grains, fruits and vegetables, poultry (meat), tourism, beef, dairy, cement, steel, fish, banana flour, and flowers/plant materials.

It said all these 13 are exports where Uganda has sufficient comparative advantage in target markets that if grown, sustainable industries and manufacturing structures can develop around each, creating employment and driving the national economy.