There has been an uproar more so from the politicians in the opposition section of Uganda. The main issue that has been up for debate was the coffee deal that is seemingly undesirable by all standards and the ever-increasing prices of fuel and other basic needs.
On the 7th of June 2022, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni the president of the Republic of Uganda offered the long-awaited state of the nation address where he addressed a number of Uganda’s economic issues including but not limited to the increasing prices in Uganda’s market.
Similar to his former submissions on the issue of the increasing prices, the president sees no need to revise any of the country’s taxation rates or policies to curb the issue of the ever-increasing prices of basic needs like soap and food.
During the state of the nation address, the president declared that Uganda had attained a lower-middle-income status. According to the statistics, the income per capita in Uganda is $1046. Unfortunately, it is at this point that majority of the Ugandans disagree with the president.
It might be true that statistically, Uganda has attained a middle-income status but according to the Bank of Uganda’s financial capability survey that was released this year; 49.2% of Ugandans earn less than Ugx 150,000 per month. Only 1% of employed Ugandans earn Ugx 1,000,000 or more a month.
In order for Uganda to attain the entry-level middle-income status, at least there must be a monthly income of Ugx 315,000 per person. Given the fact that more than 50% of Ugandans earn less than $50 a month, there is no proper explanation for the president’s statistical assumption that Uganda has attained middle-income status.
The middle-income status remains a myth as long as government officials are among the highest-paid individuals in the country. This implies that a lot more goes into administration instead of production. It is also worth noting that while computing the GDP, the figures are misplaced due to the effect of the highest-paid civil servants such as the members of parliament.
A member of parliament in Uganda earns between $10,000 and $15,000 per month. This implies that the members of parliament alone; take close to 14 billion Uganda shillings per month for management purposes yet according to the Bank of Uganda financial capability survey, close to 10,082,400 Ugandans who are participating in business, production, and any money venture earn a total of close to 16 billion.
This implies that 529 people earn 14 billion per month without producing anything for the country other than policies.