Prime
Trade policy is not for every Tom, Dick and Mary
What you need to know:
- The first is that it sends a noxious signal to partners and the international community that where policy coordination is concerned, Uganda is confused and unpredictable. That cannot be good for business and for investment.
There has been an avoidable row between the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) and fish exporters, borne out of MAAIF’s misguided attempt to tell exporters to charge their customers a uniform or minimum price of US$6 per kilogramme of fillet.
This is yet another example of ministries trying to run affairs for which they were themselves established and not surprisingly, which they have no technical competence to manage. The trade, industry and cooperatives docket has been a favourite for other ministries to try and “run”.
I suppose this results from the imagination that many if not most Ugandans in their private lives are “traders” and “manufacturers” of sorts; and that in their official capacities are qualified to manage matters of international trade and of manufacturing policies!
The reported rapid climb-down by MAAIF on this fishy matter hopefully signals that henceforth ministries will stick to matters in their mandate and competence.
However, this affair (and it is not the first time MAAIF has poked their nose in matters of trade and industry) raises two concerns.
The first is that it sends a noxious signal to partners and the international community that where policy coordination is concerned, Uganda is confused and unpredictable. That cannot be good for business and for investment.
The second is: Where is the Minister for Trade, Industry and Cooperatives when his misguided colleagues continually attempt to usurp his constitutional responsibility? I know and recall that since 1987 only (now Justice) Kanyeihamba brooked no nonsense from his colleagues’ attempting to meddle into matters trade; and that only Richard Kaijuka came anywhere close to emulating him in ensuring that trade policy was managed from nowhere else but Farmers’ House.
That was a far cry from the current state of affairs where trade, industry and cooperatives are the playground of all and sundry and managed (actually mismanaged) from multiple institutions and centres. That, truth be told, is a recipe for confusion for all stakeholders which only the “Fountain of Honour” can sort out.
HGK Nyakoojo, Buziga, Kampala.
