Uganda’s economy continues its robust recovery with projected growth of 6.3 percent in FY2018/19. Timely implementation of public infrastructure and oil-related projects would support growth in the medium term, according to the IMF’s latest assessment of the Ugandan economy.

Uganda is among the countries with the fastest growing population in Africa and remains on course to exceed 60 million by 2030. This challenges the country to create more than 600,000 jobs a year for its expanding labor force and to ensure that the benefits of growth are shared fairly.

Uganda’s development strategy prioritizes scaling up public investment to address critical infrastructure bottlenecks. Long-term sustainability of the development strategy also depends on strong investment in people. Given limited budget resources, the government must find a balance between infrastructure needs and supporting social sectors, such as health and education.

Uganda has relied on external borrowing to finance its large-scale infrastructure projects, which contributed to rising debt, putting more strain on the budget as more resources need to be allocated for interest payments. Nevertheless, the country remains at low risk of debt distress. To help keep debt at manageable levels, the government is finalizing a 5-year domestic revenue mobilization strategy.

In the face of a rapidly-growing population, Uganda needs to ensure a sustainable growth that would create more than 600,000 new jobs every year in the next decade and lift more Ugandans out of poverty.

From 1990 to 2010, Uganda achieved high growth in per capita income, which allowed it to drastically reduce poverty. Since then, however, growth rates have slowed compared to peer countries, which is likely to have contributed to a stalling of poverty reduction.

After receiving debt relief of close to $5.5 billion from multilateral organizations and bilateral donors in the 2000s, Uganda’s debt has been steadily growing. In addition to domestic debt, the country relied initially on the World Bank and African Development Bank for financing. But the share of non-concessional loans from China has been rising in recent years.

Fiscal plans have been a “moving target.” In each of the last three macroeconomic assessments of Uganda, the projected debt path was revised upwards. Having a clear direction for fiscal policy would help budget planning and execution.

Rising debt puts more strain on the budget as more resources need to be allocated for interest payments. One shilling paid for debt service is one shilling less going to a school or a health clinic. The current ratio of interest payments to revenue is comparable to what countries with high risk or in debt distress typically face.

To complement the growing physical capital and ensure its most productive use, the Ugandan government needs to invest adequately in people. But, in recent years, social spending has declined as a share of total expenditure.

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Electricity providers in Uganda are teaming up to find a new business model to boost the speed and efficiency of getting power to those living without it, in the hope it can be copied in other parts of Africa and Asia, project backers said Tuesday.

About 1 billion people worldwide still lack access to electricity, according to the latest data, with efforts moving too slowly to meet a U.N. goal of providing clean, affordable power to everyone on the planet by 2030.

Meanwhile, about another 1 billion are connected to a weak electricity grid, suffering outages and a poor service, said Kristina Skierka, CEO of the Power for All campaign, which is coordinating the push in Uganda.

A major barrier to ending energy poverty is that national power utilities and the renewable energy companies that provide solar home systems and mini-grids for communities have rarely cooperated on the bigger picture, the group said in a report.

“Neither centralised grids nor decentralised energy is purpose-built to solve the energy access problem alone, so there has to be a way to work together,” Skierka said.

In Uganda, Power for All brought the two sides together, helping them to understand one another’s constraints, such as strict regulations on utilities and a lack of subsidies and finance for off-grid providers, she noted.

Under the “Utilities 2.0” initiative, Uganda’s main electricity distribution company, Umeme Limited, and several decentralised renewable power firms aim to demonstrate the potential for an integrated approach.

Selestino Babungi, Umeme’s managing director, said his company recognised the challenges of accelerating electricity access by extending the grid, and wanted to help create solutions that were affordable and could be deployed quickly.

Uganda has a target to increase access to electric power from just a quarter of households now to 60 percent by 2027.

Ashvin Dayal, associate vice president at The Rockefeller Foundation – which is providing an unspecified amount of funding for the project – said his organisation believed it would “catalyse growth and unleash the power of both sectors”.

“Utilities 2.0 is going to provide a concrete example of the kinds of public-private partnerships that are needed today to fundamentally transform the trajectory of energy access not just in Africa, but worldwide,” he said in emailed comments.

Skierka said she hoped new ideas would start to emerge from the Uganda project in six to nine months. Those would become the basis for a plan to extend the pilot to about 10 countries that were ready for such an approach.

William Brent, director of Power for All, said smaller businesses were often better suited to delivering “last-mile” power services to rural communities than large utilities.

Co-operating on electrification could bring financial benefits on both sides, with utilities no longer losing money on connecting people in remote places and decentralised providers potentially finding it easier to access capital to expand.

The end result would be a better-quality, more reliable service for customers that meets their needs and ability to pay, Brent added.

The move to craft a nimbler way to bring electricity to poor, hard-to-reach communities reflects a wider shift in how the world is starting to think about providing urgently needed infrastructure in a high-tech era.

A paper released at the start of May by the Blended Finance Taskforce, a group of about 50 bankers and development experts, urged a more efficient and resilient approach to infrastructure.

Such a shift would look at more decentralised and digitised approaches, focused on services rather than physical assets such as roads, ports or power lines.

“Can we unhook ourselves from the notion that infrastructure is always this big and complicated thing?” asked taskforce chair Jeremy Oppenheim, founder of economic advisory firm SYSTEMIQ. “(People) don’t need a road. They need to get from A to B.”

Targeting the end result, whether transport, clean water or energy, would free up thinking on the best ways to provide green and affordable infrastructure, and how to harness the power of new technologies and natural ecosystems, Oppenheim said.

The paper said the US$2.5 trillion annual gap between what the world needs to spend on infrastructure and what it is investing could be cut by $1 trillion through making infrastructure more productive and delivering services in a physically light way.

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The Catholic Church has in partnership with the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) moved to make the Uganda Martyrs Day Celebratins at Namugongo Shrine an environmental friendly activity, by asking pilgrims to stop using “Kaveera” (polythene bags) during this year’s fete.

The development, partly inspired by Pope Francis’ call to protect “Mother Nature”, in his encyclical “Laudato Si”, was over the weekend announced the Chairman of the Uganda Episcopal Conference Bishop Joseph Antony Zziwa, of Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese.

“Having noted the threat posed by “Kaveera” to human and animal health, and integrity of creation as a whole, and concerned about the magnitude of “Kaveera” dropped in around Namugongo every year during the Uganda Martyrs Day celebration, we therefore join NEMA in making the Uganda Martyrs Day Celebrations environmentally friendly by making the shrine free of “Kaveera”,” he said.

Bishop Zziwa said that while “Kaveera” may be cheap, convenient and popular, it is non-biodegradable, which makes it very dangerous. 

“It takes over 400 years for it to decompose totally. Unfortunately, no one will live long enough to witness natural decomposition of the “Kaveera” they dumped today,” the Bishop said, adding that “Kaveera” has potential to destroy farm land and undermine agriculture which is the backbone of Uganda’s economy and the livelihoods of majority Ugandans. 

 The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on 4th – 6th April 2015 in Geneva, their research confirmative findings to the effect that the increase in non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, asthma, diabetes, obesity,) can no longer be attributable to genetic disorders, but partly a result of pollution overload in the environment mainly by chemicals from substances such as plastics. 

“As the Catholic Church, we acknowledge the serious obligation to care for all creation, and acknowledge a link that exists between promotion of human dignity and the right to a clean environment, clean air and clean water free of disease causing pollution,” he said. 

 “We are particularly inspired and encouraged by the deep reflections and appeals made by His Holiness Pope Francis in his Encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise You Lord) in which he reiterates the duty humanity owes towards the environment. The Pope appeals to our conscience as believers and people of good will to protect mother earth and planet from destruction,” the Bishop said.

Bishop Zziwa told journalists that the decision has been taken to protect Mother Nature and humanity from the harmful effects of polythene bags. He advised pilgrims to avoud  food wrapped or packed in “Kaveera” because it has been scientifically proved to be harmful, and advised them to use paper bags and other biodegradable bags for carrying their belongings to the shrine.

He said the programme to discourage use of kaveera and protecting the environment will be extended to all other Catholic Shrines and institutions, as part of the Church’s contribution to posterity.

He said the Uganda Episcopal Conference is pleased to work with  the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) to educate the public about the dangers posed by the Kaveera as part of empowering the public with information to make their own decisions.

According to NEMA, and the other partners in the project,  green dustbins will be deployed at the major entrances and exit into Namugongo to collect polythene bags which will accidentally find their way to the shrine.

Dr. Tom Okurut, the Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) says the joint campaign with the Catholic Church is being carried out in partnership with  VIVO Energy (Shell) and Next Media Services (NBS TV) on the occasion of the celebration of Uganda Martyrs Day on June 3rd.

Dr Okurut says the Uganda Martyrs Shrine at Namugongo is a sacred international tourism destination which must be protected from environmental pollution. He said the campaign provides an opportunity for educating and recruiting pilgrims as ambassadors for the protection of the environment.

According to Dr Okurut, NEMA is counting on the ripple effect of pilgrims carrying back the message of the abolition of the use of the Kaveera to galvanize implementation of laws outlawing the use of polythene ene bags below 30 microns in the country. He says the campaign is running under the theme: “Tuve KuKaveera”.

Below is Bishop Zziwa’s full statement

Press Statement

on the “Free Kavera Uganda Martyrs Shrine, Numugongo”

People of Goodwill

Fellow Citizens

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today the Uganda Episcopal Conference launches a joint campaign against “Kaveera” in and around the premises of the Uganda Martyrs Shrine, Namugongo. This initiative has been undertaken by the Uganda Episcopal Conference in conjunction with National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) with its partners; Vivo Energy, Shell Uganda, NBS and Next Media Services. 

As citizens and partners in the development of Uganda, we are inspired in this initiative by the current global campaigns against environmental degradation. We are also guided by the several protocols to which the Government of Uganda is signatory and by the Constitution and laws of Uganda that govern our interaction with the environment. We are particularly inspired and encouraged by the deep reflections and appeals made by His Holiness Pope Francis in his Encyclical “Laudato Si” (Praise You Lord) in which he reiterates the duty humanity owes towards the environment. The Pope appeals to our conscience as believers and people of good will to protect mother earth and planet from destruction.

Having noted the threat posed by “Kaveera” to human and animal health, and integrity of creation as a whole, and concerned about the magnitude of “Kaveera” dropped in around Namugongo every year during the Uganda Martyrs Day celebration, we therefore join NEMA in making the Uganda Martyrs Day Celebrations environmentally friendly by making the shrine free of “Kaveera”. 

“Kaveera”, as many of you know, may be cheap, convenient and popular but is non-biodegradable. It takes over 400 years for it to decompose totally. Unfortunately, no one will live long enough to witness natural decomposition of the “Kaveera” they dumped today. “Kaveera” has potential to destroy farm land and undermine agriculture which is the backbone of Uganda’s economy and the livelihoods of majority Ugandans. 

With regard to human health, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on 4th – 6th April 2015 in Geneva, their research confirmative findings to the effect that the increase in non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancer, asthma, diabetes, obesity,) can no longer be attributable to genetic disorders, but partly a result of pollution overload in the environment mainly by chemicals from substances such as plastics. 

As the Catholic Church, we acknowledge the serious obligation to care for all creation, and acknowledge a link that exists between promotion of human dignity and the right to a clean environment, clean air and clean water free of disease causing pollution. 

As such, the Uganda Episcopal Conference declares that starting this year, the Uganda Martyrs Day celebrations held annually on June 3 at the Catholic Shrine in Namugongo, will no longer welcome “Kaveera”. In subsequent years, this initiative will be extended to other Catholic Shrines. Pilgrims are encouraged to carry items in reusable cloth, papyrus (Kikapu) or paper bags. Green bins will, however, be provided for disposal of “Kaveera” for those who might have forgotten and come with them for any other reason. 

On the occasion of celebrating Uganda Martyrs day, the Uganda Episcopal Conference calls upon every person of goodwill to think of the many ways in which they can participate in maintaining serenity and integrity of creation. As for the faithful, we call on you to make this call part of your witnessing to the Gospel as well as the responsibility given to man in Genesis Chapter 1 verse 28. We encourage the clergy to disseminate this information through the various media available to them, including announcements during Holy Mass.

We wish you all fruitful celebrations of the Feast of the Uganda Martyrs. 

‘For God and my Country’.

Given this day of 10th May, 2019 at the Uganda Catholic Secretariat, Nsambya-Kampala.

On behalf of the Catholic Bishops of Uganda,

+Joseph Antony Zziwa,

Bishop of Kiyinda-Mityana Diocese, and Chairman of Uganda Episcopal Conference.

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