Africans consuming less - Museveni
Nov 19, 2007
UNDER-consumption is the greatest enemy of business in Africa, President Yoweri Museveni has said. He told a gathering of hundreds of senior executives from companies like Coca-Cola and Chevron, in South Africa, that if all the 900 million people in Africa had reached average consumption of all comm
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
and Agencies
UNDER-consumption is the greatest enemy of business in Africa, President Yoweri Museveni has said. He told a gathering of hundreds of senior executives from companies like Coca-Cola and Chevron, in South Africa, that if all the 900 million people in Africa had reached average consumption of all commodities and services, investors would be richer.
Museveni made the remarks on Friday at a dinner hosted in his by the Corporate Council on Africa in his honour and that of other dignitaries who attended the US-Africa Business Summit that ended yesterday in Cape Town.
To illustrate his point, Museveni cited Uganda where an individual is expected to take 210 litres of milk per year but consumes only 30 litres.
He also said Ugandans are expected to consume 50kg of meat per year but on average they eat 5kg.
A State House statement said the President emphasised the importance of a human being as the most important economic resource in the world.
Japan, Museveni noted, does not have natural resources like oil or gold, but is the second greatest economy at $4.5 trillion behind the US, because of its human resource.
“Human beings are capable of reasoning and using brains to acquire skills that are crucial in transforming natural resources into wealth.â€
Museveni said industrialised countries were wrong to place a higher value on Africa’s raw materials than on its 900 million people, who should no longer be considered aid recipients but potential consumers.
Uganda and other African countries, Museveni stressed, owed the West no favours. “Africa has been heamorrhaging resources. It is a misnomer that the West is helping Africa. This is not true.â€
He said Uganda, the world’s fourth biggest coffee exporter, receives $1 per kilogramme of coffee and yet after the beans are roasted and ground in London, they go for $20 a kilogramme.
“For each kilogramme of coffee, we are donating $19. We have been doing this for a long time. But we are fighting it.â€
Museveni noted that lack of infrastructure was Africa’s biggest obstacle to investment.
He added that if Western governments and companies failed invest in the construction of dams for hydroelectric power and other infrastructure, the continent would go it alone.
Museveni hailed US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush for signing and implementing the African Growth Opportunity Act, which has enabled Africa access the American market - tax and quota free.
Museveni encouraged members of the business community in South Africa to invest in Uganda, especially in agro-processing as well as in the manufacture of electronic appliances.
The entrepreneurs, led by the president of the Corporate Council on Africa, Stephen Hayes, expressed interest in investing in the manufacture of goods for the Ugandan market and COMESA.
They were also willing to produce water and biogas from cassava and sugarcane.
Other speakers were US secretary of treasury Henry Paulson, South Africa’s trade minister Mandisi Mpahlwa and Hayes.
and Agencies
UNDER-consumption is the greatest enemy of business in Africa, President Yoweri Museveni has said. He told a gathering of hundreds of senior executives from companies like Coca-Cola and Chevron, in South Africa, that if all the 900 million people in Africa had reached average consumption of all commodities and services, investors would be richer.
Museveni made the remarks on Friday at a dinner hosted in his by the Corporate Council on Africa in his honour and that of other dignitaries who attended the US-Africa Business Summit that ended yesterday in Cape Town.
To illustrate his point, Museveni cited Uganda where an individual is expected to take 210 litres of milk per year but consumes only 30 litres.
He also said Ugandans are expected to consume 50kg of meat per year but on average they eat 5kg.
A State House statement said the President emphasised the importance of a human being as the most important economic resource in the world.
Japan, Museveni noted, does not have natural resources like oil or gold, but is the second greatest economy at $4.5 trillion behind the US, because of its human resource.
“Human beings are capable of reasoning and using brains to acquire skills that are crucial in transforming natural resources into wealth.â€
Museveni said industrialised countries were wrong to place a higher value on Africa’s raw materials than on its 900 million people, who should no longer be considered aid recipients but potential consumers.
Uganda and other African countries, Museveni stressed, owed the West no favours. “Africa has been heamorrhaging resources. It is a misnomer that the West is helping Africa. This is not true.â€
He said Uganda, the world’s fourth biggest coffee exporter, receives $1 per kilogramme of coffee and yet after the beans are roasted and ground in London, they go for $20 a kilogramme.
“For each kilogramme of coffee, we are donating $19. We have been doing this for a long time. But we are fighting it.â€
Museveni noted that lack of infrastructure was Africa’s biggest obstacle to investment.
He added that if Western governments and companies failed invest in the construction of dams for hydroelectric power and other infrastructure, the continent would go it alone.
Museveni hailed US Presidents Bill Clinton and George Bush for signing and implementing the African Growth Opportunity Act, which has enabled Africa access the American market - tax and quota free.
Museveni encouraged members of the business community in South Africa to invest in Uganda, especially in agro-processing as well as in the manufacture of electronic appliances.
The entrepreneurs, led by the president of the Corporate Council on Africa, Stephen Hayes, expressed interest in investing in the manufacture of goods for the Ugandan market and COMESA.
They were also willing to produce water and biogas from cassava and sugarcane.
Other speakers were US secretary of treasury Henry Paulson, South Africa’s trade minister Mandisi Mpahlwa and Hayes.