Build the road, and Congo will pay for it.
18, December 2020
In 2016, Donald Trump, as part of his immigration policy promised to build a wall across the United States boarder with Mexico to stop illegal immigration. Accordingly, he said Mexico would pay for that wall.
The wall is yet to go up however, and it’s not been reported whether Mexico has paid or not.
Uganda is embarking on a plan to build 3 roads in Congo and, if I may speculate here, Congo is going to pay for them.
Uganda shares a 38KM border with the DRC and although there has been immigration concerns over the last 50 years, Uganda has not quite warmed up to the idea of trade routes with its mineral rich neighbor to the West.
For a long time Eastern Congo was not on Uganda’s trade radar, or even mentioned as an emerging market on account of armed conflicts in the region, instability, dense impenetrable forests and impassable roads.
Uganda’s trade revenue with Congo in 2019 alone was $162 million. The figures indicate potential strategic trade partnerships with Congo and the need for Uganda to turn its eyes firmly to the west.
President Museveni came out the other day and announced that Uganda will be constructing 3 roads in Congo. Much like Trump’s wall, Uganda’s strategy would be to build the roads but have Congo pay for them — Atleast in the long term.
The project has been met with obvious opposition and controversy from most Ugandans.
What most Ugandans fail to understand is that the government is spending UGX 200 billion — a very small fraction of the Congo-Uganda trade revenue — to improve infrastructure in eastern Congo to continue and ultimately improve trade, largely on the form of Ugandan exports to Congo. We have bad roads right here in the country, alright, but the ultimate strategy is to boost grow our revenue to the point where we can fix every road.
Many Ugandans (myself included) don’t bother with the economics or facts before getting outraged however.
Trade with Congo is long over due. The road project will allow Uganda increase its revenue with Congo and most of Central Africa.
Commercial agriculture and industrialization in Uganda has created the need for a larger regional market. Trade opportunities with Kenya and Tanzania have been explored and almost surpassed at this point, and it’s very unwise to continue to ignore Congo.
With the money Uganda makes from trading with Congo its can well ably fund the construction of those roads and all the necessary infrastructure needed to guarantee safe passage of Ugandan exports and Labour.
I personally feel the sooner we get the project on the road, the sooner we can get Congo pay for it.
