Industry players opposed to Museveni directive on govt printing services

Printing and packaging industry players have voiced opposition to President Museveni’s directive granting only two companies the right to secure all government printing contracts.

In a September 28, 2021 letter seen by Daily Monitor, President Museveni wrote to Prime Minister Ms Robinah Nabbanja directing that the two majority government owned companies be supported by government.

He wrote: “They indicted to me that they have over the years invested over Shs45billion in the state-of-the-art printing presses, making them one of the biggest printers in the region. However, they notified me that, whereas MDAs spend over Shs50billion annually on printing alone, very little of this work goes to them and the government printing and Publishing Corporation in Entebbe.”

Mr Museveni then concluded directing the Prime Minister to communicate to government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to ensure that all their printing works are given to the Vision Group and UPPC, Entebbe.   

The Executive Director of the Federation for Small and Medium Enterprises (FSME) Mr John Walugembe has since described this development as unfair, saying “the basis upon which it is informed is not solid enough.”

President Museveni in a correspondence which this publication has seen, noted that he arrived at the decision after meeting with the Vision Group Board Members and management team who brought the matter to his attention before asking for his help to “secure for them government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA) printing work.”

But just like the industry players, under their umbrella association, the Uganda Printing and Packaging Association (UPPA), Mr Walugembe, would want to see the President’s directive reversed.              

Unfair

According to UPPA Chairperson, Mr Archy Kiwanuka, just the association he leads alone, has more than 60 members with Vision Group being one of them, arguing that it is wrong to single out the interest of selected players at the expense of the entire sub sector players.  

“Total investment in the sector by all the players is in the excess of Shs1.3trillion. So how do you treat other investors unfairly yet we all have common aspirations and ambitions,” he said.

He added: “Therefore, it is imperative that all players in the printing sector have the same treatment before the current procurement regime that is mainstreaming local content, subject to the Law, Reservation Guidelines or Regulations as the case may be.”

Before that, Mr Christian Ssenabulya, a member of the association and an industry player, while quoting the sector statistics, indicated that Sector’s economic contribution to Uganda as documented in the last available Capacity Baseline Survey of 2017 shows Direct Employment of 38,000 permanent Jobs; with 90 in those salaried positions are youth.

Contravention

Further, according to the joint statement, the industry leadership strongly feels that the President’s letter contravenes the procurements laws and regulations in Uganda that require competitiveness and non- discrimination.

The statement also observes that “the Presidential directive undermines the law reservations premised on fair and free competition within sectors in line with the Buy Uganda Build Uganda Policy that was issued in 2014.”

As for the Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), its “expectations are in the direction of rather using public procurement to spur recovery of the sector based on fair competition and transparency among players that have printing facilities in Uganda.”

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