Poverty drops to 16% as NRM lists four decades of gains

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As Uganda prepares for President Museveni’s inauguration, the ruling National Resistance Movement is using the moment to reflect on and defend its four decades in power.

In a detailed press statement issued at the Uganda Media Centre, Minister for the Presidency Milly Babirye Babalanda outlined what she described as the party’s key achievements since 1986, which have shaped Uganda’s current political and economic trajectory.

When the NRM took power on January 26, 1986, Uganda was, in her words, “close to a failed State.” The early years, she said, were spent rebuilding the essentials of governance, security, constitutional order and national institutions.

That period, from 1986 to 1996, saw the establishment of the 1995 Constitution and the restoration of what the government describes as “people-centred democracy,” setting the stage for regular elections held every five years since.

Today, the government points to continuity as one of its defining achievements.

“The NRM has been able to preserve peace for 40 years, which no previous governments had ever achieved,” the statement notes, attributing this to a political approach that prioritised shared national interests over identity-based divisions.

That stability, the minister argues, has underpinned economic growth. Uganda’s economy has expanded significantly in recent years, growing from sh128.5 trillion (about $34.7 billion) in 2019 to sh226.3 trillion (around $61.3 billion) by the 2024/25 financial year. By 2025/26, it is projected to reach sh254.2 trillion, or roughly $66.1 billion.

In simple terms, the economy has nearly doubled within five years, even amid global disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Growth has also translated into broader structural change. Uganda has crossed the threshold required to graduate from the category of Least Developed Countries, with income per person rising from about $891 in 2019/20 to $1,263 in 2024/25.

This shift reflects what economists describe as a “take-off stage,” where industrial activity, investment and exports begin to sustain growth independently.

Manufacturing now contributes 15.6% of GDP, while locally produced goods, from cement and steel to processed foods, increasingly replace imports. Manufactured exports account for nearly a quarter of total exports, valued at $10.6 billion.

At the household level, the government highlights the gains in wealth and living standards.

Poverty has declined from 56.4% in 1992 to 16.1% in 2024, while the share of households relying on subsistence farming has fallen from 68% in 2014 to 33% in 2024. Programmes such as Operation Wealth Creation, Emyooga and the Parish Development Model are credited with driving that shift.

Infrastructure improvements are also central to the government’s narrative. Electricity generation has risen to 2,051 megawatts, increasing national access to power to 60 per cent. The road network has expanded significantly, with paved roads growing from about 1,000 kilometres in 1986 to more than 6,200 kilometres today.

Access to clean water has improved as well, with more than 80 per cent of villages now served by safe water systems.

In health, the impact is measured in lives. Life expectancy has risen from 43 years in 1986 to 68 years today. Infant mortality has dropped sharply, and diseases such as measles and polio have been largely eliminated through immunisation.

These gains, the government argues, explain the outcome of the January 2026 elections, in which President Museveni secured 71.65% of the vote.

That support, Babalanda said, reflects public confidence in a political programme built on “democracy, patriotism, Pan-Africanism and socio-economic transformation.”

Yet even as the NRM highlights its record, the broader question remains how these gains will be sustained, and whether the next phase, described as a “qualitative leap into high middle-income status,” can be achieved.

For now, the government’s message is clear: the past 40 years are presented not just as history, but as a foundation for what comes next.