The Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija has lamented climate change in his budget speech. After reading the areas of focus for Uganda in the 2024/25 F/Y budget, the Minister then cautioned that there are challenges to be surmounted to achieve these development goals.
“Madam Speaker, Uganda’s growth strategy for the next fiscal year and the medium-term is anchored on four key growth drivers. Agro-Industrialization, tourism development, mineral development including Oil and Gas, and science, technology, and innovation. These are the anchor sectors that are going to propel Uganda to a five hundred billion dollar economy in the next one and a half decades.”
He added though, that those anchors of the economy in the next financial year will be at great risk from four bottlenecks:
“Madam Speaker, our growth prospects face some risks that need to be mitigated. Climate change affecting agricultural production and infrastructure, regional and global geopolitical tensions, high interest rates which constrain access to affordable loans, fluctuation in global commodity prices.”
Heavy unexpected rains, floods, and mudslides have incessantly resulted in the loss of lives, property and displacement in the country.
In the month of May, mudslides in Kasese and Bunyangabu districts caused death of more than a dozen people and displaced hundreds from their homes.
The pattern of heavy and destructive rains was also seen in Mpigi, Dokolo, Kalungu, and greater parts of Eastern Uganda.
In December 2023, the Auditor General advised government to expedite the implementation of climate change mitigation and adaptation interventions to avert the potential loss of about 12trillion shillings the economy could lose from extreme weather events in this financial year.
At the 28th Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai, President Yoweri Museveni, in a speech read by the Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja argued in defence of the Loss and Damage fund.
“While Uganda’s natural biodiversity presents important opportunities for adaptation and mitigation that can greatly contribute to the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions of up to 24.7% by the year 2030, it is highly vulnerable to climatic shocks,” Museveni said in a statement delivered by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja at the COP28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Saturday.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics as of 2023 estimated that agriculture employs about 68% of the country’s labour force. Most of this agriculture happens in rural areas and the produce needs to be transported to the urban and semi-urban areas where the markets are.
