Ugandan President Museveni has declared his nation to get back into business now. He urged the Ugandans to continue business now that it is open, particularly in the markets.
He also added that people do not need to worry about the pandemic COVID-19, it is all stable now and they only need to focus on getting vaccinated.
Immunization is important and every person should get vaccinated because it is the only way for the nation to stay away from COVID-19.
Museveni said Tuesday that the reason they had to stop the markets was the pandemic Corona.
A few weeks ago he addressed the nation saying that they had opened the country for all new businesses and also for the resume of existing businesses. He added that they are going to give more emphasis on vaccination and other restrictions are now withdrawn.
He made these announcements while he was launching phase one of the Mpondwe Lhubiriha Border Zone (Market) and Mpondwe One Stop Border Post in Kasese District. He was addressing crowds at the Mpwonde Uganda-Congo border.
By enhancing the capacity for trade and lowering the expenses faced by traders, particularly small-scale and women traders, the Shs5 billion facility sponsored by the World Bank through the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project is intended to enable cross-border trade.
The president emphasized that the market they established there needed to be utilized immediately and that traveling within East African nations should be free of charge and visa-free.
Kasese Chairperson, Eliphaz Muhindi Bukombi raised a complaint that restrictions like visa fees in dollars equivalent to Shs10,000 for Ugandans to enter the neighboring country harm trade between Uganda and DRC.
He claimed that this primarily had an impact on the fish market, which has subsequently changed. Museveni responded to this complaint by saying that he will remove it if that’s the case there.
Mr. Muhindi also said that Mr. Felix Tshisekedi, the president of DRC enabled Ugandans free entry to the country to facilitate commerce in the interest of boosting contemporary trade and following the principles of the East African Community.
President Museveni congratulated Mr. Tshisekedi for committing to cooperate with Uganda to drive the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels out of Congo and gave the residents of Kasese and the Rwenzori region assurances of ongoing peace.
Museveni added that the ADF should submit without resistance because they might put a stop to them. If the Congolese government permits them, they would follow them wherever they go because there is nowhere they cannot go.
Godfrey Kabyanga, the State Minister for ICT, had referred to the UPF’s deployment in the DRC as the best development in his recent memory.
He revealed that when they heard about the news of ADF killing 200 people, they assumed that they all have lost one relative since they have families and relatives there.
The President has given certain messages of wealth creation to the people of Kasese. His message of wealth creation is by working in four sectors. They are commercial agriculture with Ekibalo-calculation, industrial services, and information and communication technology (ICT).
Regarding commercial agriculture, the President focused on the seven activities for individuals with small parcels of land (four acres and below)due to high returns per acre each year.
He suggested one acre for clonal coffee, one acre for fruits (mangoes, oranges, and pineapples, as well as berries for those in Kasese Mountains), and one acre for food crops for the family (cassava, banana, upland rice or irrigation rice, Irish potatoes, sorghum or millet).
The fourth acre should be set aside for pasture for dairy cattle, chickens for backyard coops that lay eggs, and fish farming.
The President reaffirmed that households with six acres or more can use four acres for farming (dairy, pig, poultry, fish, fruits, food crops, coffee, etc.).
Along with the high-value activities, they can also grow low-value crops on the remaining two acres, like maize, cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane.
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Museveni said to the people that if they stabilize agriculture in their family, everything will be easy for them to achieve. He added that the land is to support both families and the whole nation. These plans made by Museveni aim that if someone dies from a family, the children can benefit from the land.
According to State Minister for Trade, Ms. Harriet Ntabazi, more than 18 marketplaces of this kind would be built to overcome trade hurdles between Uganda and East Africa.
She thanked Museveni for the market benefits and ensured that they will work together for market benefits. She considered the plan as a Christmas gift from the president.
The market and the one-stop border post would experience an increase in regional market exports, according to the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ms. Geraldine Ssali.
All government agencies will need to cooperate to promote trade between Uganda and the DRC, according to Mr. John MUsinguzi, commissioner general of the Uganda Revenue Authority. He described the vent as proof that business between the two countries is expanding.
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