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The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) wants the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit to address the debt burden among member states. 

According to the party, the heavy debt burden has enslaved NAM members since the Arab-Israel War of the early 1970s which has reduced investment opportunities and trade in their economies. 

Addressing journalists at the UPC headquarters in Kampala, party spokesperson Faizo Muzeyi mentioned the need for the NAM Summit to come up with practical solutions for the debt trap. 

“Among them is re-negotiating the debts we already have because it’s more of a burden in all member states. Secondly, we must understand the conditions of the loans we are getting before accepting and after accepting we must put them to clear use,” he said. 

To Muzeyi, the debt money acquired is either not used effectively or delivers substandard goods and services. He cited the expired Covid-19 vaccines that went to waste yet they were acquired using debt money. 

“There must be a clear mechanism on how to use debt money if we are meant to benefit from it. We must understand and focus on the real reason as to why we get these loans,” he added.

Uganda debt

According to state finance minister Henry Musasizi, the total debt stock as of June 2023 stood at shillings 86.8 trillion. 

Musasizi made this revelation while presenting the National Budget Framework Paper for the financial year 2024/2025-2028/2029 before the committee chaired by Patrick Opolot Isiagi.

Other challenges

UPC asked NAM member states to also address; food insecurity, climate change, poor health, unemployment, migration and terrorism.

The party called for massive investments in innovation and technology that can boast large-scale production as well as heavy reliance on local raw materials. 

“The NAM members who have made a breakthrough in development should act as a model to inspire others, which is consistent with the theme of the ongoing NAM summit, ‘deepening cooperation for shared global affluence,” said Muzeyi.

Invest in Uganda

On Tuesday (17 January 2024), President Yoweri Museveni rallied investors to invest in Uganda, saying it is a resource-rich country and is the best investment destination. 

The President made the remarks at Serena Hotel in Kampala in his speech read by Vice President Jessica Alupo during the official opening of the East African Trade and Investment Forum that is running concurrently with the 19th summit of NAM. 

He urged the investors to interest themselves in the oil and gas sector, with its commercial production scheduled to start in 2025. 

The three-day forum, which started Monday, aims to attract at least $1b (about sh3.7 trillion) worth of investments in various sectors of the economy. 

The sectors include energy, ICT, commercial agriculture, trade, infrastructure, mining, industrialisation, tourism, and oil and gas.