UMA plea for infant industry

Dec 10, 2002

LESS than one year before the East African customs union comes into being, members of the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), are asking that some protection be given for local infant industries for between 5-10 years.<br>

By Ricks Kayizzi
LESS than one year before the East African customs union comes into being, members of the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), are asking that some protection be given for local infant industries for between 5-10 years.
“Although we are not completely against Uganda joining the customs union per se, we request that an import duty of 10% be imposed on all commodities coming from our sister countries for between 5-10 years,” Dr. William Kalema, the outgoing UMA board chairman said on Monday. He was giving his report during the association’s AGM.
He said Uganda’s infant industries face total extinction if Kenya’s relatively cheap and high quality products are allowed to enter the country tax free.
Later the new chairman Abdi Alam of the Alam Group added, “Government needs to go into this venture cautiously, as our comparative advantage seems not to have been exploited to the maximum,” he said.
Kalema said that although Kenya is totally in favor of scrapping internal tariffs, Uganda and Tanzania are demanding for some protection because of a fear of being submerged.
He also suggested that Government look into introducing subsidies both for the industrial and agricultural sectors in the face of fierce global competition and establishment of an integrated trade regime in East Africa.
Inefficiencies in the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) was also a source of concern by the UMA members.
“Joining a common market of three countries with different trade policies, while having an inefficient tax regime is like committing suicide,” said Kalema said.
He said local industrialists have been financially threatened by a flood of untaxed goods, that continue to enter Uganda illegally. Ends

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});