#OutToLunch: How government of Uganda can solve its motor vehicle problem

By Denis Jjuuko

One way to tell that you have arrived at a government of Uganda facility such as a local government district or even ministry headquarters is the sight of motor vehicles rotting away in the compound. The government seems to find it easy to procure new vehicles than maintaining and servicing their existing fleet.

Some of these vehicles such as tractors, rollers, excavators and such other equipment cost billions each to buy but even the usual ordinary standard pick-up truck is expensive. One would think that maintaining and servicing these vehicles is cheaper and indeed more prudent than to buy new ones but this is Uganda.

This could have prompted the Ministry of Finance to announce that they wouldn’t be a budget for new vehicles for the next financial year. The news articles that announced this revelation didn’t mention whether there will be a budget for maintenance and service!

There is perhaps nothing that public servants love than a vehicle that comes with their offices. A car is a status symbol in Uganda for many since the majority of people come from poverty-stricken families. A car announces their arrival. One with the red or even blue license plates puts them on a pedestal they couldn’t probably have imagined while growing up.

In the 1990s, a fight erupted among the highest members of the judiciary. One judge was fighting with his superior over an official car — a Mitsubishi Pajero with a turbo engine or known as an Intercooler then. One judge wondered why his car wasn’t an Intercooler and created such a public circus over it.

Politicians once appointed in office, the first thing they want to know is which car has been assigned to them and if they can upgrade with the latest version. When the current cabinet was appointed, rumors surfaced that some ministers claimed their predecessors had put juju in the vehicles and therefore needed new ones!

I don’t know for how long Ramathan Ggoobi, the finance permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury, will be able to withstand pressure from politicians and public servants who want to buy new vehicles. Admittedly, this isn’t the first such directive government has ever issued. But I don’t remember if this was ever implemented. We shall wait and see.

Though the obvious thing if the ministry of finance wants to control its expenditure is by ensuring that its motor vehicle fleet is in good working mechanical conditions. Largely, the government buys these vehicles when they are brand new and if they are serviced well, they should be able to serve beyond five years.

I was told that government also doesn’t do comprehensive insurance for its fleet. This means if a car is involved in an accident, there is no compensation for it. So instead of getting insurance companies to replace the vehicle, government simply procures an new one. Buying vehicles all the time is more expensive than insuring them.

But does the government need to provide cars for all its officials? In many countries and even companies in Uganda, officers are facilitated to buy their cars. This can be done by providing interest free loans where the officer buys a car that they use for their official duties. The payment is deducted every month until the car has been paid off. The officer is then paid mileage every time they use the car. So the government wouldn’t be involved in maintaining and servicing the vehicle or selling it on the cheap just because the car has done five years. The officer knowing that this is their car, they will handle it with utmost care. Many wouldn’t demand for the expensive SUVs that they use today.

To make these cars cheaper, government can do a partnership with some of the vehicle manufacturers to assemble the cars in Uganda. Already, Kiira Motors has a plant nearing completion in Jinja. This would also create millions of jobs and kick off Uganda’s nascent automotive industry.

Alternatively, government can do what many organizations are doing. Hiring and leasing vehicles for its officers. Many companies and development organizations don’t own cars even those that are branded with their logos. They simply lease them and once they make about 150,000km on the odometer, they return them to the lessors and get new ones. This minimizes a company’s capital and operational expenditures. Maintenance and service is handled by these companies, freeing the lessee from the hustle of fleet management.

Of course, there are vehicles that government may still have to buy such as police and military vehicles and ambulances. But also, it can still lease them.

The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

Tags: Car, Denis Jjuuko, finance permanent secretary, Government of Uganda ., Out to Lunch, Prime Time Communications, Ramathan Ggoobi

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Skills and investment portal could help those fleeing xenophobia

Denis Jjuuko Just like that, we are already in the second half of 2026. Six months to the end of the year. Time really flies fast even when you may not be having a great time. The year kicked off with presidential and parliamentary elections in Uganda and a war in Iran that disrupted global economies. Skyrocketing fuel prices mean a tough economy for ordinary people. As if that wasn’t enough, an Ebola outbreak was declared in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a few cases in Uganda. Some countries reacted by banning Ugandans from entering their countries. Businesses and opportunities were lost. Covid-19 taught people that travels can easily be disrupted. Yet if you live in Kampala, you won’t tell there is any Ebola outbreak. Life as far as Ebola is concerned is normal. Anyway, a new government is now in place. More ministers than Uganda has ever had and a few acting ones, holding more than one docket. They have promised an economy that jumps from USD50-60 billion to a USD500 billion one annually. Government says it will do a lot of stuff to achieve this. Sometimes though, government is government. We pray to be alive to enjoy this. The end of the first half of the year in Uganda means the start of a new financial year. As you may notice, your fuel pump prices are going up as the government has increased the tax it charges on each litre of fuel. The fuel prices have been high already due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to the war in Iran, now they will even be higher. Time to implement some austerity measures at home. Life is for the brave, not so? You probably made some resolutions at the beginning of 2026. Hope you have already achieved them or you are half way there. If you haven’t started on them, you can still adjust a few things. A clip on social media shows somebody whose goal this year was to buy a car but has easily added the letters p.e.t at the end of car to mean carpet. That is what he will buy. The car is out of reach now but the carpet shouldn’t be. Creative way of achieving some resolutions. Whatever resolutions you may have made, starting a new life in South Africa may have to be reconsidered. Ordinary black South Africans unable to find jobs have turned to other Africans who migrated there accusing them of depriving them of their apartheid inheritance. Some people have already lost their lives and/or properties. The government of Uganda is evacuating Ugandans facing xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Hundreds have been flown home already. They have had enough of it. I hope the government of Uganda has a plan for them upon arrival from the country that once had leaders like Nelson Mandela. Have the impending returnees gained any skills that can help Uganda drive the economy to the promised land of USD500 billion a year? Do they have some capital they would like to deploy? Those who have some needed skills could be linked to those who need them. A digital portal could be designed where they register indicating the skills and expertise they possess so those who need them could easily find them. Those looking for businesses to invest in could also do the same. Matching businesses with the skills and even capital is a necessity to grow the economy. The portal would of course not be for only those returning from South Africa but for all people to ensure inclusivity. I think some recently returned from Iran and there are always many returning from other countries as well. Millions of others are here in Uganda. They have some skills, but they don’t know how to reach those who need them. Many others have the required capital businesses need to scale but don’t know how to invest. That is how they fall to charlatans promising abnormal returns on investment. Of course, investing in other people’s business would require some sort of public oversight so that people don’t lose their money easily after investing but it shouldn’t be as difficult as going to heaven or listing on the stock exchange. A standard legal agreement or registration of this investment with a public entity like the Capital Markets Authority or Uganda Registration Services Bureau could help. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

July 22, 2026

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Africa must level up if the continent is to create a trillionaire

By Denis Jjuuko There was hullabaloo recently when the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, yet again launched another initial public offer (IPO) this time for his space exploration, satellite internet, artificial intelligence and social media company SpaceX. The IPO made him the world’s first trillionaire in US, not Zimbabwean, Dollars! It didn’t take long before the usual commentators in Uganda and elsewhere on the continent went into overdrive with many of them running out of superlatives in praise of Musk. Some owned him as an African, since he was born in South Africa while others blamed everyone else but themselves on the state of innovative companies on the continent. Why aren’t Africans developing AI products and companies, many wondered. Many people have probably tried but to scale them is difficult. Look at how many Africans have developed payment applications. In every innovative hub in Kampala, Nairobi, Lagos or Johannesburg, there are many people developing all sorts of payment apps but they remain relatively unknown outside the ecosystems in which they are being developed. Once in a while, a founder will get some funding and there will be some noise evidenced by billboards in various capitals featuring Nigerian musicians and once the rental fees are done, you will hardly hear about them. Until when they receive another round of investments. I have a feeling many founders’ dream ends at raising a certain amount of funding. Once they have money to pay bills, they sit and relax a bit. I hope I am wrong. But I wouldn’t blame many founders or entrepreneurs on the continent. Creating innovative products like building re-usable rockets or even AI applications that can be scaled requires enormous resources that are hard to realize. How many founders or entrepreneurs will refuse a job that pays money immediately to work on a product whose success can’t be easily determined? They need to pay bills and can’t always look on when their beautiful ex-girlfriends remind them that they couldn’t “eat potential.” Many American innovators have become successful because the government provides them tax breaks and subsidies. Elon Musk wouldn’t have been able to scale Tesla and SpaceX if he wasn’t receiving a lot of subsidies, soft loans and even contracts from the US government. How many African governments offer contracts to a start up? How many provide soft loans and subsidies? Nobody wants to do so. We easily run to Indian multinationals to develop simple things like an integrated website for tax collection. Had SpaceX or Tesla been founded on the African continent, most likely Elon Musk would still be operating in a shared space at an innovation hub at Ntinda Complex or Motiv around Bugoloobi. Unless of course if he knew someone who knew someone whose relative worked in the presidential palace. If he was lucky, he would have been given a flyer to borrow money at 10% payable in four years and he would need to be super lucky to actually get the loan amount credited on his account. Banks don’t look at you if you don’t have a statement that shows a lot of cashflow. I won’t talk about collateral today. That is why you find many people going to Guangzhou in China, bring in whatever that can fit in their checked in luggage, clear taxes, sale and repeat. A few trips over a period of 5-10 years and loan officers are knocking on their doors every day. By this time, the innovator at the innovation hub is most likely still scavenging for the next investor, prompting AI to design some fancy slides for the virtual seed funding presentation to potential investors. The investors listen, love the idea, but they are more likely to get their money back if they backed an 18-year-old kid working from his father’s basement somewhere in California. If they decide to invest in an African’s start up, it is very little money. The Africans who have some money don’t want to invest in “weird” things like space exploration or even AI data centres. They rather invest with a guy claiming to be rearing goats or keeping poultry as long as he promises a huge monthly return. The innovator capable of developing an AI product or a rocket sees the chicken guy rolling on Bandali Avenue in a Subaru with some bimbos and wishes he did the same. If he is a honest person, he would join those opening salons and boutiques in Kyanja Mall. No need to reinvent the wheel, he would console himself. I know that some African governments have funded some startups but they are really few and founders are usually well-connected people. Would an African stock exchange list a non-profitable start up? There is a need to level up to create a critical mass of innovators. If we do, once in a while we’ll have an African Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or another Aliko Dangote. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

July 22, 2026

Out to Lunch

#OutToLunch: Africans will continue seeking western citizenships unless governments act

By Denis Jjuuko Many years ago, I decided to go out of the country for my graduate education which lasted about 18 months after which I came back to Uganda. Upon my return, I found myself, like most young people, unemployed. I went to visit a family friend whose children live and work outside Uganda. When I was leaving her home, she told me what I heard many people had said about me but not to my face. Why did I come back? I should have found a way never to return to Uganda to be unemployed. Many people will say oli musiru or you are naïve if you had a chance to run away from Uganda and didn’t take it. It isn’t just in Uganda but in many parts of Africa. That is why athletes participating in international sporting events are known to “disappear” into thin air instead of returning once the tournament is over. They rather become illegal immigrants doing odd jobs (kyeyo) than returning to the dusty streets of African capitals. Many students at graduate schools never return to the continent. Some become career students as they look for opportunities to remain in those countries. West Africans rather die trying to walk the breadth of the Sahara Desert and then jump onto ricket risky boats to cross into Europe than remaining at home riding boda bodas. The few times I visit Entebbe airport, the biggest number of departing passengers I see are young women dressed in abayas and hijabs walking in a choreographed pattern on their way to the Arabian desert to do domestic work. They are happy to finally land a job. If you engage many of those returning to Uganda, their ultimate dream is to find a way to Europe, America or Canada. People of means have been known to fly their pregnant wives to give birth in America or other developed countries where citizenship is guaranteed upon birth, which the current US president wants to ban. He also wants to create a system where people who have the money can buy the US citizenship or permanent residency. If he did that, many wealthy Africans would pay for it. Already, people in Uganda pay hefty sums to conmen promising them US visas and green cards. One time, a visa officer at one of the embassies of the western powers said that many applications arrived with fetishes. That is when paper applications were still the norm. Once some people got the forms, they took them to their traditional healers for blessings. That is how desperate many people are for western visas and permits. Given what people do to get the visas, if the world’s biggest plane arrived at Entebbe airport and said they are taking the first 850 people to arrive to Europe or north America for free and they would be granted citizenship, you would be shocked by who would line up. There would be chaos as the big people try to jump the queue or have their spouses, children or grandchildren be the ones to go. That is why there was pandemonium when parliament didn’t approve some people appointed to ministerial positions due to their possessions of dual citizenships. Many promised to renounce the citizenships of other countries while another turned to theatrics. I highly doubt many people would renounce their western citizenships to serve as cabinet ministers beyond sending an email to some officers somewhere. Many ministers and government officials are the ones who largely send their wives and daughters to give birth in America. They encourage their children who they send to the west to study to remain there until they have processed the paperwork that may lead to citizenship or permanent residency. Publicly, they may renounce the western citizenships and even hire social media influencers to make their case but deep down, they prefer western passports. That is why they acquired them in the first place. They know the benefits of western citizenships. African economies celebrate remittances from their people in the diaspora with fanfare and many are happy to create policies that send their youths to the gulf states to work even though they sometimes publicly denounce those who seek to go and work there. Western citizenships are largely sought after by Africans for economic reasons. What about creating opportunities and an environment here on the continent? If we did, there wouldn’t be many people doing whatever it takes to become western citizens in the first place. The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com

June 24, 2026