Museveni Discusses Education Sector With America and Belgium Ambassadors

President Yoweri  Museveni has met and held discussions with the Belgian Ambassador to Uganda, Rudi Veestraeten and the Deputy Chief of Mission and the Chargé d'Affaires at the US Embassy, Christopher Krafft.

Museveni and his guests discussed areas of mutual interest between Uganda, Belgium and the United States, focusing especially on the education sector.

The President told his guests that African economies are under-developed but have a big potential which is not utilized. 

"The potential of Africa is multi-sectorial but this potential is not used. For an economy to grow, it is important to focus on capital expenditure than re-current expenditure. If you can't only emphasise education and don't look at roads, electricity etc," he said.

The meeting, which was attended, by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Kataha Museveni, and Foreign Affairs Minister, Sam Kuteesa, took place at State House Entebbe.

Museveni revealed to his guests that in the region, even in the whole world, there is no country like Uganda whose economy had collapsed completely but the NRM government was able to revive it using correct methods and policies.

"Uganda's economy had collapsed completely during Amin's time. There is no economy in the world that collapsed completely like Uganda. To revive this economy, our priorities were different from other neighboring countries. As a country, we budget to build a durable base and a viable political unit that will defend us. It's like building the armed forces, if you don't have an army, you don't have education, security, health etc" the President said.

First Lady Janet Museveni said that both Belgium and the United States are countries that have stood with Uganda and have helped to support different programmes and projects in the education sector.

Veestraeten said that investment in education is key to the development of any country.

The President issued the following statement after the meeting.

"...At State House Entebbe, myself, together with the Minister of Education, Chairperson of our Education Development Partners who is also Ambassador of Belgium to Uganda H.E Rudi Veetraeten and the acting Ambassador of USA to Uganda H.E Chritopher Krafft held candid discussions about the budget gaps in the sector, alongside possible interventions for the same.

While this matter is of utmost importance, our guidance, has been, that; It should be discussed, as a cluster of core areas to be addressed collectively in a developing economy, such as Uganda's, as opposed to having the areas appearing to be competing against one another. This is the misdiagnosis that led us to an economic collapse to the point that by 1986, the country was almost entirely reliant on smuggling for basic goods. We have been working to correct this over the years, with a budget strategy shaped by the need to build a viable base, not just for survival, but sustainable prosperity.

Capital expenditure on infrastructure, energy, agriculture, industry/manufacturing and security may, in the short to medium term, be prioritised over recurrent expenditure like salaries.

The revival of this conversation is always an opportunity to look further within, towards aggressively tackling wastage within the national budget and make re-allocations towards the primary sectors and of course further prioritise within those sectors, as the need arises. This could allay the concerns being raised. For example, at the backdrop of the COVID - 19 pandemic, the minister has informed me that e-learning, especially for tertiary institutions, is becoming a much needed solution which requires resources.

We thank our development partners for continued support towards our vision for sustainable growth and development.