By Ben Ssebuguzi
KAMPALA-UGANDA/NEWSDAY: It should be noted that during the 1940s, the current challenge of Africans then was the question of political liberation from imperialist. The great men like Nkwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere among others are always remembered as ones who helped Africa to gain her independence and even started Organization of African Unity on 25 May 1963 in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia.
But their efforts did not infinitely economically liberate Africans.
Today, there are a new breed of African leaders who are determined to be game changers of the welfare of Africans through pushing for intra -African trade. President Museveni will be greatly remembered for making peace with a sole purpose of bolstering trade on the continent.
Uganda’s main export partners include South Sudan (15 percent), Kenya (10 percent), DR Congo etc. Uganda exports to South Sudan were US dollars 357.34m in 2020, according to United Nations Comtrade. This has been a deliberate plan of the UPDF under President Museveni to pacify the war torn country which has enabled many Africans including Ugandans to find it a profitable haven for trade.
Furthermore, it is within everyone knowledge that President Museveni was one of the architects of the East African Community (EAC) integration in 1993. He engineered the integration of South Sudan, Burundi and now DR Congo into one East African bloc.
President Museveni is also fast tracking the African Continental Free trade Area Agreement which was signed in March 2018 with the purpose of creating a single African market of over 1 billion consumers with a total GDP of over $ 3 trillion. With One stop border points infrastructure already in place, Uganda’s trade in manufactured and processed goods will increase hence growing the value of our exports and create more jobs for youths.
When African countries trade with each other, they exchange more manufactured goods, knowledge transfer and good bilateral relations which increases state incomes from product sophistication.
African leaders should know that intra trade is more profitable and feasible than trading with Europe and the US simply because there high transport costs which eat up traders profit but also the technical and regulatory standards are too high to meet which excludes Africans and makes them beggars, which makes us net importers hence high unemployment and poverty.
According to Comtrade, intra-African exports in 2017 was only 17% compared to levels in Europe 69%, Asia 59% and North America 31%
It is upon this background that President Museveni will be written in the world of fame books and remembered for not only making the continent peaceful but also ensuring that Africans can take a paradigm shift and start creating wealth through aiding infrastructure developments like the 223km road to Mpondwe in DR Congo which is meant to improve trade connectivity between two countries but also improve peace.
Ben Ssebuguzi is an economist, entrepreneur and Secretary General of Uganda Poor Youth movement.
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