Museveni gloats about Kenya’s failed attempts to block Ugandan goods

Museveni said despite several attempts by eastern neighbors to close out some of Ugandan products, this has not been possible because of their (goods) competitiveness.

The Ugandan leader made these remarks while officially commissioning 16 factories at Mbale Industrial Park in Mbale City.

The president also broke ground for the construction of another 9 factories in the industrial park, which now employs over 2000 Ugandans.

Speaking as Chief Guest, the Head of State said Mbale district and the rest of Eastern Uganda had lately been transformed from being heavily dependent on Kenyan imports.

Today, Museveni said the script has been entirely flipped to the point where Ugandan products are dominating the Kenyan market.

“One of the speakers here said that when he was young, he thought that this region was part of Kenya because everything used here came from Kenya,” Museveni said

“But now Kenyan products can no longer be found here.”

Museveni also made note of what he called “failed attempts” by the neighboring country to lock out Ugandan imports.

“Indeed the Kenyans sometimes try to block our products, but our products are nearly impossible to be blocked because they are top quality and they are cheap,” he said.

The government of Kenya has in recent years implemented protectionist trade policies targeting Ugandan products, especially dairy and grain. Each time, a different reason has been given for the bans.