President Yoweri Museveni has advised Ugandans to eat cassava as alternative to bread whose price has gone up due to disruptions in global wheat supply.
His LabourDay call dashed the hopes of many vulnerable Ugandans who were still counting on his government to initiate shortterm measures to cushion them against the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
Addressing the nation from Kololo ceremonial grounds, Mr Museveni said the skyrocketing prices were as a result of Covid19 and exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If there is no bread eat mwogo (cassava). Africans really confuse themselves. You are complaining that there's no bread or wheat, please eat mwogo. I don’t eat bread myself,” Mr Museveni said.
The price of bread has shot through the rough in the landlocked East African nation, with a 50gramme loaf going for US$1.03.
The price is quite steep in a country where a large percentage of the population still survives on less than a dollar a day.
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His LabourDay call dashed the hopes of many vulnerable Ugandans who were still counting on his government to initiate shortterm measures to cushion them against the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
Addressing the nation from Kololo ceremonial grounds, Mr Museveni said the skyrocketing prices were as a result of Covid19 and exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“If there is no bread eat mwogo (cassava). Africans really confuse themselves. You are complaining that there's no bread or wheat, please eat mwogo. I don’t eat bread myself,” Mr Museveni said.
The price of bread has shot through the rough in the landlocked East African nation, with a 50gramme loaf going for US$1.03.
The price is quite steep in a country where a large percentage of the population still survives on less than a dollar a day.
Related
Museveni pic
Ugandan police fire officer over leaked Museveni photo
In the first half of 2021, Uganda's Finance ministry reported that 28 per cent of Ugandans were poor. That rate had increased from 18 percent before the pandemic.
In line with World Bank practice, the official poverty line is the equivalent of $ 1.90 purchasing power per day and head.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) mid this week warned that surging food and energy prices stoked by the war in Ukraine may lead to "social unrest" in Africa.
Most countries south of the Sahara are already seeing a slowdown in economic growth from last year, and the impact will be amplified by the rising cost of cereals and fuel, it said.
Some of the crises that have rocked Eastern Africa countries, including the toppling of Sudan leader Hassan Omar AlBashir, were sparked off by high prices of bread.
But Mr. Museveni said he is not concerned because the government is doing nothing to remedy the situation.
"The soaring problem of raw material prices like gasoline, fertilizer and other necessities was created by our friends in Europe," he said.
"We are quietly trying to talk to them.I'm not worried. We will find a solution. We speak calmly with Western Europe and Russia. It will tell (the Ugandans) what we are doing at the right time.”
He also reiterated that the Parish Development Model (PDM), the government's plan to move nearly 40% of Ugandans remaining in kind to commercial manufacturing, will help create jobs and boost household income.
“Before we (NRM) came to power, only a few educated people were rich and benefited from government programs, but most were poor,” Museveni said.
“But we said no! If you sensitise them properly they can get out of poverty…The Parish Development Model should kickstart us to have about 60 million workers.”
In a veiled swipe at critics of the controversial coffee deal which ministry of Finance signed with Uganda Vinci Coffee Company (UVCC), Mr Museveni appealed to Ugandans to stop using a language that depict lack of enthusiasm for foreign investments in the country.
“I want to advise Ugandans that you can encourage the indigenous investors if they are there but do not show lack of enthusiasm for investors from outside. No one can beat me in Africanism, but I welcome all investors,” he said.
According to him, the coffee debate is “very interesting.”
“I am even glad that people are putting their views in writing. They are attacking the coffee deal that it is bad. He said, "I thought it was black and white, so I'll start researching it from now on."
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