'Bad press a threat to Uganda's middle-income dream'
Dec 22, 2016
"I am not gagging you, but I want you to love your country. Don't put a story out there that has a potential to damage the image of your country..."
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija addresses members from the diaspora during Home is the best Diaspora Summit 2016 at Hotel Africana on December 21, 2016.Photos by Ramadhan Abbey
Finance Minister Matia Kasaija has said Uganda's push to achieve middle income status by 2021 is under threat unless the media in Uganda desists from reporting negatively on the goings-on in country.
Recent events in Kasese where more than 60 lives were lost following the storming of the Omusinga Wesley Mumbere's palace by the army was one of the examples where press in Uganda fell short.
(L-R) Executive Director National Planning Authority, Dr Joseph Muvawala, Director International Cooperatives Ministry of Foregine Affairs and Ambassador David Etukel interact with finance minister Matia Kasaija as Acting Chairman Board Uganda Investment Authority Gorge Piwango Jalobo looks on. This was during Home is the best Diaspora Summit 2016 at Hotel Africana on December 21, 2016.
"I am not gagging you, but I want you to love your country. Don't put a story out there that has a potential to damage the image of your country. Even if there is some element of truth, keep it. Don't show the country is finished," he said, adding that bad press was discouraging potential investors from setting up shop here.
He was speaking at the annual Home is best Diaspora summit at Hotel Africana on Wednesday.
Kasaija, without pointing names, said that some media houses in the country were abusing their power as the Fourth Estate and this threatens to roll back the achievements the country has made over the years.
Ugandans in diaspora attending Home is the best Diaspora Summit 2016 at Hotel Africana
The Home is best Diaspora Summit has been held in country over the last nine years and brings together Ugandans living abroad or those that have returned to chart ways about how they can work together with government to develop their country.
This year's summit which was organised under theme Diaspora investment: A bridge to Middle Income Economy.
Kasaija urged Ugandans in diaspora to invest in agriculture and industrialization as a way to boost production and create employment.
He added that government was ready to provide land free of charge for anybody willing to start big projects especially industries.