Talks on Karuma cable bridge still on – JICA chief

What makes you—JICA—different from other overseas agencies?

Well, JICA has different modalities of cooperation; in this I mean, technical cooperation, infrastructure development, rice scheme where we send Japanese rice experts to develop our rice sub-sector in this country; we also have an element of rallying Japanese private sector to Uganda. Technical assistance is a long tradition of Japan. Worth noting is that Japan is a relatively current modern/developed economy; we used to be a developing country so we understand developing countries’ situations. So, our stance is we don’t want to be just donors; we want to be involved. We believe we are partners and that our engagement is an exchange process exchange programmes; not just the giving or give and take, we learn together and we will develop together. Right. So that is our mentality

Fair enough. You’ve been here since 2018 from your view point what are Uganda’s pressing challenges?

Job creation! For me I think it is the biggest problem, and how government can secure decent jobs for its young population that is willing to work. Then the other issues is that the country’s population is increasing year by year, rapidly.
From what you see and from the engagements you have with government do you get the impression they are doing enough?

No government in the world can create enough jobs. Even in Japan or the US; what government can do is to try and minimise the gap, and I think your government is headed in the right direction. All I can say is the Japanese government is committed to supporting the Ugandan government to achieve middle income status.

Do you also buy into that ‘middle income status’ talk? For your information, we were told we’d be a middle income country in 2018, then 2020, now God knows when. Are we even close to there?

Of course, there are several challenges, and Uganda is not isolated. There are many factors which are beyond Uganda’s making that can delay that, take for instance the Covid-19 situation. To develop a country is not an easy task; even in Japan people are complaining that the situation is hard, but the key thing is to keep on working towards the solutions geared development. Once you do that there is no way a country can fail to achieve its development target.
Fair enough. The Jinja cable bridge, which as you started off is now complete, comprised your largest stock of money in Uganda. What else do you have in store?

We have several. For instance, we have been supporting regional referral hospitals for several years. This year we started a programme on patient safety. When patients go to hospitals, sometimes they get infected. Preventive measures against such is important, which is the basis for the project. We are also going to start a road construction project in Yumbe District to the refugee camp as part of improving livelihoods of refugees.  
Also, we are preparing tenders for Kampala power stations as well as continuing to support the rice sub-sector; we want to make Uganda a rice exporting country from importer. We are also supporting private sector in various ways; private sector is key in your country’s becoming middle class incomes so we are supporting various start-ups.

For several Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, their aid is somewhat tied to the political-economy issues in the recipient countries. What are some of your issues you raise with the Ugandan government?

Of course, politics matters, because we are Japanese government entity and we work closely with the Japanese ministry of Foreign Affairs through which JICA’s policies in Uganda are influenced. But compared with Western countries, Japanese government policies are relatively or should I say we don’t act aggressively I think as a result of our history. We resisted colonialism by Western powers, and somewhat survived so that is why our government looks at other countries as partners. Like in the case of issues in Myanmar we had to stop our entire engagement, but Uganda is different.

Some argue that ‘moderate’ approach is turning a blind eye to the ills of governments for the sake of what’s good for you. I mean, who didn’t see what our government did – disappearing its own citizens, maiming them, for the sake of remaining in power – during the just concluded elections

Well, there are demarcations but that is the role of the Japanese embassy. As for us we focus on development where we talk with our Ugandan counterparts on the same, the rest is handled by the embassy.

There was talk of the Government of Uganda having pitched to you an idea for a new cable bridge at Karuma. How far did that go?
The Ugandan government presented us formally with a proposal which we shared with headquarters which is studying the proposal. At this stage I cannot comment except to say we are positively considering the proposal for the project.

The last time I was in Tokyo in October 2018 I happened to have visited JICA HQ and I was told the same thing as you are telling me now. Surely, there is more you can add; is the bridge something you are seriously considering?
[Laughs] Okay, truth is, there are several discussions. One of the issues was the size of the budget of bridge and its designs. The Uganda National Roads Authority wanted to make a nice bridge with all sorts of designs, for instance, showing local cultures on grounds that the Karuma area is a tourist site or even in a national park; that was to cost a lot. Secondly, the Ugandan government wanted the bridge to be considered as a grant project and not a loan; grants have sizes as are loans. There were several back and forth talks on size and budget and we reached an agreement. But now headquarter is working on a final response.

As JICA, or even Japan government, do you feel threatened by China’s role especially in developing countries?
Of course, China’s presence in this country is easily seen through the Entebbe Expressway and Karuma and Isimba dams, and all that. So, we think that they are our competitors but there are lots of ways we can work together. For instance, we recently received proposals by your government to construct Kibuye-Busega Expressway which connects both to the Entebbe Expressway, and we think a portion of the contract can be handled by the Chinese government. That said, we have different modalities; theirs, and ours, and there are several ways to differentiate.

Lastly, what is your agenda as new chief representative?
I really want to focus on private sector development. Private sector development is much bigger than public sector, and for Uganda to achieve middle income status they need to use private sector energies and as catalyst in the development agenda, especially by harnessing digital approaches. 
Also, my sincere hope is to develop Uganda as is Japan, for instance by linking markets, tapping the youth entrepreneurship, among others.