Uganda’s President On Winning Back Skills, Dealing With Power Shortages

Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni says his country is working on mechanisms that will see its highly skilled diaspora returning home. Museveni added that its skills preferred to be back home with their family but they want high salaries.

“We have the skills in the diaspora community; the challenge is retaining those skills which demand high remuneration,” Museveni told CNBC Africa.

President Museveni on East Africa’s growth outlook Investor spotlight has shifted to the East African region, analysts are however of the opinion that the region’s economic potential is largely untapped but will require a lot of political will. “We have to pay better salaries; there is no other way as we do not have security problems in the country.”

Museveni, the region’s longest serving president said the country was also working on ensuring adequate electricity supply. “Electricity was a big problem in the past but now we have caught up with the demand and we will stay ahead of demand,” he said.

“We are building new dams and some on the way. There are also power sources that can be put [in] quickly.” Museveni decried the use of solar power at the current rates. “The issue with solar has been hampered by cost per unit which is expensive, but if the cost goes down we will consider pursuing it,” he said.

“We need to do more research especially leveraging technology on how to produce more energy cheaply and efficiently.” Museveni also said he was expecting his country to produce oil by 2018. “We shall make money out of the petroleum sector and we believe money from the sector shall be an additional source and will be used to power infrastructural projects.”