Come and invest home - Museveni tells diaspora

By Geoffrey Kulubya in Dallas Texas

President Museveni has challenged Ugandans living in the diaspora to invest home because even the natives of countries like US and Canada where they live sacrificed and invested heavily to develop them.

In a speech read for him by the Vice President Edward Ssekandi at the 25th Ugandan North American Association (UNAA) convention Saturday, Museveni said  both the US and Canada cover an area of 3m square kilometers each and to develop them, they first paid a price.

Kibirige BMK and former UTODA chairman Moses  Katongole at the UNAA convention. PHOTO/Geoffrey Kulubya

“Government has since 1986 worked hard to address all key bottlenecks hindering development, among them security. Please invest home to develop our country”, he said, adding that now the whole country is peaceful and "we have invested heavy  in infrastructure to create a conducive investment climate."

My main concerns, he said, apart from peace, are socio-economic transformation of our society and economy and the economic and political integration of the African continent.

And in the battle for socio-economic transformation, the president informed delegates that he identified  ten strategic bottlenecks that he first highlighted to the country during the Golden jubilee celebrations last year.

They are: ending ideological disorientation; building the State pillars to ensure that the State is capable of governing people and protecting them; developing the human resource through education and the improved health for all; promoting the private sector which is a more efficient vehicle for enterprise identification and growth rather than persecuting them as used to happen in the past.

Other bottlenecks include: developing the infrastructure especially electricity, roads and ICT; modernizing agriculture; modernizing social services; integrating the African market to assist the Private Sector; and ensuring democracy.

The president said Uganda’s economy was still small but  is fast expanding  through the East African  integration and "through hard work  we shall will achieve an African integration."

He said government has invested in infrastructure development and with high investments in electricity the problem of unemployment would be tackled because this should attract investment and therefore employment.

Museveni called upon the diaspora to ignore negative elements who misrepresent issues citing the recently passed Public Order and Management Bill which intends to maintain law and order but is being misrepresented.

“We shall not allow anybody to disrupt business and destroy people’s property in the city," he warned.