Minister Anite Rallies Leaders to Embrace ATMS to Grow Uganda’s Economy

ARUA. The State Minister of Finance in charge of Investment and Privatization, Evelyn Anite has appealed to local leaders to embrace the Presidential strategic plan to grow Uganda’s economy from USD50 billion to USD500 billion within the next 15 years.

She said the Presidential strategic plan includes the promotion of Agro-industrialization, Tourism development, Mineral development including oil and gas; and Science, technology and innovation including ICT (ATMS).

Anite made the call during phase two of the Local Government regional budget consultative workshop for FY 2025/2026 held at Hotel Le Confidentiel in Arua on Thursday, September 19, 2024.

The meeting was attended by political and technical leaders from the districts of Nwoya, Pakwach, Nebbi, Madi-Okollo and Nebbi Municipality including officials from different ministries.

During the meeting, Anite said West Nile is strategically located with all the potential to benefit and grow from the Presidential strategic plan of ATMS.

“West Nile has got one of the best fertile soils that when we tap in by moving away from tobacco growing to growing coffee, it can earn us a lot of money. We need that forex to come back here,” Anite said.

She noted that with the cereal processing plant in the region and the growing of mangoes, the people of West Nile will benefit from job creation, become food secure and be able to export some of the resources outside the country.

Relatedly, Anite said agriculture is very key for the people of West Nile because the region has the best honey in the world.

“People come all the way from Germany, from Austria to take the West Nile honey. So, that is the agriculture part of it but away from agriculture, there is tourism. Now in the tourism sector, West Nile benefits by the fact that it has the smallest Church in the world, it has falls like three to four falls; Miria Adua falls, Oluko falls and all these falls are here in West Nile,” Anite said.

“Then you have Ajai game park, Mount Wati and Mt. Liru, so if we continue talking about these and we make people come from the globe to West Nile, West Nile will automatically benefit from the ATMS,” Anite added.

She observed that another aspect of ATMS is the mineral sector. Anite said the minerals West Nile has delivered is the untapped opportunity of the region.

“Look here, it is the first time that West Nile is talking about gold. Gold in Yumbe, gold in Moyo and gold in Zombo among other districts. We even have lime, the biggest lime deposit for making cement is actually in Moyo and we need to harness this because it is going to bring industries, we shall have factories here, we will be able to have jobs created for our children and then we shall be able to again attract forex. So, we need to make sure that as West Nilers, we talk about these things and attract foreign direct investments in the region and on top of that also encourage West Nilers and Ugandans to come and invest in the West Nile sub-region,” Anite remarked.

The Minister stressed that away from the mineral development sector, the ICT is where the region has to harness more of high technological advancement.

“West Nile is near the border of DRC and South Sudan, so if we make sure that we attract technological advancement with infrastructure development of connecting West Nile roads to the neighboring countries, I can assure you West Nile will boom economically. Science and technology, we need to get West Nilers to go back to school and enhance their education. That way, West Nile will benefit not only in the ATMS but also contribute to the growth of national development to make us reach USD500 billion,” Anite stated.

Goffin Gore, the Moyo Resident District Commissioner (RDC), appealed to the leaders to urge the government to focus in the direction of ensuring that Pan African ideology is promoted to stabilize the bordering countries around West Nile because that is where the region makes money.

“When South Sudan was peaceful, didn’t you see the booming economy in West Nile; new houses, everything came up but when there was turmoil there, all our boys came back and we got stuck. So, that means the President’s Pan African ideology is very key and as the ministry of finance, with your planning, that should be in your plan,” Gore advised.

Robert Omito Steen, the Pakwach district chairperson, said all the discussion made during the budget consultative meeting zeros on infrastructural linkages.

“We are grateful that President Museveni finally delivered electricity to West Nile but there are also districts like Pakwach which are just enjoying the lines flying with no connections in terms of transformers and poles. I think coverage of electricity in Pakwach is not beyond 5 percent yet that was the commitment in the 2016 manifesto that every sub-county headquarters would have access to electricity which has not happened to date,” Omito said.

He said they have got so many schools, health centers, trading centers and business places which are not connected to electricity.

Omito urged the government to consider connecting the rural areas of West Nile to electricity, work on roads and water transport in order to facilitate trade in the region.

Meanwhile Emmanuel Orach, the Nwoya district chairperson, said there is a virgin place for tourism in Nwoya district because the district holds the biggest portion of the Murchison Falls national park with varieties of animals notably; the Elephants.

“We have a number of other areas including agricultural tourism, community-based tourism, hot water points and religious sites within the district which can also boost the tourism sector,” Orach revealed.