President Museveni reacts after blocking of Ugandan exports

Yoweri Museveni, the president of Uganda, has lashed out at the East African Community member nations (EAC) for obstructing Uganda’s exports.

Museveni said that non-tariff trade obstacles were unjustified and held the EAC nations accountable for their imposition on Ugandan goods.

The statements were given by the president of Uganda at his national New Year’s message on December 31, 2023, in Kampala.

He claimed that those in charge of placing non-tariff barriers on commodities coming from EAC members were doing so out of self-interest and that they would soon be brought to light.

We’ll keep talking with our partners in the East African Community, and I’m confident that we’ll create a true common market free from non-tariff barriers.

“Because those barriers harm people living in all of our countries.” I’ve provided you with a basic illustration of a rice ban. You harm Tanzanian farmers as well as Ugandan customers.

“Thus, some people believe that mobilizing will make them more popular, but effective mobilization can expose those who engage in such activities,” President Museveni stated.

The president of Uganda did not, however, specify which nations were putting non-tariff barriers on Ugandan commodities.

Kenya, however, has lately barred Ugandan milk products from selling. However, Museveni rejected the suggestion made by his Trade Minister to obstruct Kenyan goods, stating that doing so would be contrary to regional integration.

“Those policies are blind, and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) will never participate in them. Since they tell me other countries are doing it, some businesspeople in Uganda point to other nations’ non-tariff barriers.

“I won’t participate in it if that is what they are doing; that is their error. Of disappointing the African people,” he said.