“Coronavirus a Lesson for Uganda to Stop Depending On China”

It is no secret that the emergency of COVID 19 has affected the Ugandan economy as most of the goods are imported mostly from China which is the origin of Coronavirus.

Before President Museveni closed Ugandan borders to stop incoming travellers that would increase the risk of spreading the virus, most traders in Kampala expressed fear over failure to find a country equivalent to China from where to purchase goods to import to Uganda.

A Ugandan innovator who doubles as the chairman of IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Uganda section, Baron Ezabo now says the emergency of Coronavirus is a lesson for Government to put up structures and support local industries, engineers, scientists and businesses.

“The Coronavirus outreach should be a learning lesson to our Government to put more structures and continue to support our local industries, engineers, scientists and businesses.”

“It should be a lesson to stop depending too much from China that we can’t produce even our own face masks,” Ezabo told Chimpreports.

Ezabo is developing Woxsan City, the first artificial Intelligence powered trade city to serve the same purpose as real cities that will have Banks, digital shopping malls, online hospitals among others.

While issuing more measures to contain the spread of COVID 19 in Uganda on Monday evening, President Yoweri Museveni expressed how disastrous it is for Africa to depend on imports.

“You have seen how dangerous it is for Africa to extensively depend on imports from outside. This is time to wake up,” said Museveni.

On account of the pandemic, Museveni noted that some sectors such as Tourism, entertainment industry, Transport industry among others are suffering.

He however added that new opportunities are emerging.

“You have seen how demand for sanitizers, face masks, bicycles etc has stimulated new industrial opportunities.”

Working with the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Museveni said a fund in Uganda Development Bank (UDB) will be set up to accelerate industrialisation through import substitution and export promotion.

Today, the number of COVID 19 confirmed cases in Uganda stands at 33.