By Oweyegha-Afunaduula
President Tibuhaburwa Museveni told the country that prices in Uganda were rising because of the Russia-Ukraine armed conflict (war), but prices had been rising since the onslaught of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
May be we can separate the effects of the two on prices, but explaining why prices are rising is not as important as government intervening to ensure life for the majority of Ugandans continues to be livable during the skyrocketing of prices.
But how should government intervene? May be if Uganda were a welfare State?
Government had the opportunity to demonstrate that it can effectively respond to declining human welfare during Covid 19 Pandemic, but it cared for the rich instead. They are the ones that accessed the huge financial outlay that became available because of the pandemic.
Let me ask:
Has government considered that its wayward taxation, increasingly multiple taxation, of everything conceivable, in bad times, is the single most factor contributing to the high rise prices?
Has government considered taking action against businessmen who hoard commodities to push prices up?
Has government considered that the entry of politicians, more often than not greedy and selfish, into commercial business, has greatly contributed to the high rocketing prices of commodities?
Has government considered that the mushrooming of a group of people called middlemen (this includes women) has also contributed to the skyrocketing of prices of commodities? In one sentence: Greed and selfishness are responsible for the high-rocketing prices in Uganda.
For God and My Country
The Writer is a Ugandan Scientist And Environmentalist
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