AT PEN POINT: Approximately twenty years ago, as @NRMOnline Youth Chairman for Rukungiri District, I advocated for granular mechanisms to rigorously evaluate the performance of government programmes while combining rewards and penalities to boost people centered results. My weekly column, At Pen Point, became a platform for data driven consensus on public policy in Uganda and engagement with broader international affairs. My editor, @TonyOwana , was a man who prized intellectual rigour and analytical depth far above mere literary flourish. The @RedPepperUG ‘s indefatigable @RugyendoQuotes offered steady encouragement that helped sharpen both voice and conviction. The late Afande Noble Mayombo, Hon. @FrankTumwebazek and Mr. David Otim offered constant feedback and sometimes fierce push-back. It was a mentorship. After two decades of an on-and-off affair with the pen, the question now arises: do I retreat and vanish into the coffee shamba, or refill the ink once more? For me, the answer feels clear and divinely ordered — it is God, the Pen, and Coffee! The soil sustains the body; the pen, sustains the mind and conscience. Both, under grace of God, serve the nation. 🇺🇬

As Uganda prepares to unveil the 2026/27 Budget, how can government raise more revenue without slowing economic growth? In this analysis, @Rwakakamba argues that broadening the tax base, curbing smuggling, supporting SMEs, lowering barriers to digital access, and promoting productive investment may deliver better results than increasing taxes on fuel, cement, and digital services. Read the full commentary on how Uganda can boost revenue while strengthening the private sector and advancing its monetization agenda: ceo.co.ug/2026-27-budget-how…

Honourable Minister Musasizi, Your pledge before the Parliamentary Committee — to drive accelerated economic transformation, enforce fiscal discipline, boost domestic revenue, support wealth creation, and ensure prudent management of oil revenues — while committing to results-oriented delivery, aggressive procurement reforms, and rigorous value-for-money audits, sets a strong foundation. As debt repayment consumes a large portion of the UGX 84 trillion FY2026/27 budget and domestic borrowing continues to crowd out the private sector, your leadership in creating fiscal space — without compromising Uganda’s recent exit from the grey list — will define this term. First 100 Days. • Debt Navigation & Fiscal Space: Initiate a comprehensive debt sustainability review, confront inefficiencies in loan-funded projects, and engage creditors for refinancing of high-cost domestic debt. Prioritise concessional and PPP financing for infrastructure to reduce internal borrowing pressure, protect private sector credit access, and safeguard Uganda’s standing off the grey list. • Gold & Minerals Value Capture: Allocate UGX 400 billion to scale Bank of Uganda’s gold purchase programme to 5 tonnes/year. Raise refined gold export levy from $200 to $500/kg with rebates for local content and downstream manufacturing. Explore selective government equity in gold refineries. Target: Lift net retention from $200 million to $1 billion within 24 months. • Commit UGX 800 billion to accelerate last mile electricity access/stability and cold chain infrastructure for dairy and fish farmers to cut post-harvest losses. First Year Priorities. • Interest Rate & Farmer Relief: Direct BoU to lower Cash Reserve Ratio and create targeted liquidity windows. Introduce a 12–24 month grace period on interest payments for farmers and agri-enterprises. Aim to reduce average lending rates from 15–20% to 8–9% for priority sectors. • Trade Finance Fund: Capitalise a UGX 500 billion Trade Finance Fund to provide affordable, fast-track financing for exporters, agro-processors, value-addition enterprises, and SMEs. • Research & Development Fund: Establish a UGX 900 billion revolving competitive R&D Fund for independent think tanks and research institutions, awarded transparently on merit to generate high-quality, evidence-based solutions in minerals beneficiation, energy, space technology, agro-industrialization, fiscal innovation, and wealth creation. • Smart Revenue Mobilisation: Expand tax base through formalization incentives and digital tracking (target UGX 300–400 billion extra revenue) without new burdens on businesses, protecting profitability and aggregate demand. • PDM Transformation: Fully digitise PDM beneficiaries and deliver direct cash transfers after rigorous project approvals. This will eliminate middlemen and strengthen household-based wealth creation. • Formalization & Enterprise Support: Launch UGX 1.2 trillion fund offering rebates and matching grants to factories skilling young people in agro-processing, jewelry, and value addition. Consolidate scattered formalization programmes under a one-stop center in the Ministry of Finance. Years 2–5: Scaling Impact. • Achieve nationwide cold chain coverage, full artisanal miner integration, sustained debt restructuring, and procurement reforms. • Expand last-mile electricity to manufacturing hubs/parks to create 500,000 new formal jobs. Establish a sovereign wealth fund for prudent oil revenue management. Raise formal economy share to 60% of GDP. Honourable Minister, by combining disciplined debt management with bold value capture, a dedicated Trade Finance Fund, competitive R&D investment, and private sector-friendly financing, you can create the fiscal breathing room needed for real transformation. This is our generational moment to move from managing constraints to engineering inclusive prosperity. Let us seize it together with courage and discipline. Respectfully, M. Rwakakamba

First 100 Days of New Finance Minister – Partnering with You for Accelerated Economic Transformation. - 91.8 Boona FM boonafm.com/first-100-days-o…

First 100 Days of New Finance Minister – Partnering with You for Accelerated Economic Transformation phoenix-browser.com/DX9se3d6…

It’s a strong team. I am sure they are thinking of some of these key tasks ahead for the Kigezi sub-region. 1. Completion of pending/stalled rural electrification projects — and ensuring electricity stabilisation (power is currently on and off). 2. Operationalisation of Bwambala (Rukungiri) and Kisoro industrial parks. 3. Establishment of an iron ore factory at Muko (this, among others, will require massive electricity to attract investors to deploy cash). 4. Rehabilitation of the Ntungamo — Rukungiri road. 5. Tarmacking of the Kanungu–Nyakishenyi–Kyempene–Rubaare Road, with a link to Kebisoni. 6. Upgrading Rwamahwa Health Centre to a referral hospital. 7. Establishment of modern markets at DRC and Rwanda border points. 8. Advocate for and provide fertiliser subsidies to land-stressed households in Kigezi. And more! @henrymusasizi1 @BaryomunsiChris @henrytumukunde @jkmuhwezi @AkifezaGrace @JacqueMbabazi

Here is a book recommendation for all those distinguished country men and women appointed into Cabinet to serve The People of Uganda. 🙏🏿

BLOG: Fuel Volatility: The Silent Tax Crushing Uganda’s Farmers – And How the 2026/27 Budget Must Fight Back chimpreports.com/blog-fuel-v…

What Pope Leo XIV’s ecyclical on Artificial Intelligence means for Uganda phoenix-browser.com/CDIjZj65…

The architects of 2026/2027 national budget of Uganda will go through series of tweaks and challenges. Why? They are majorly faced with an externalised challenge — i.e. Middle East war and impact on fuel supplies/prices (fuel volatility). And indeed this fuel volatility is no mere externality — it is a structural levy on Uganda’s agrarian and value addition efforts. At UGX 5.25K–6K/litre, diesel/petrol inflate logistics margins, compressing smallholder yields & SME profitability while transmitting cost-push to food CPI with 4–6mo lags.Manufacturers also face eroded competitiveness in a landlocked/linked Uganda. For the 2026/27 Budget: pursue fiscal palliatives for structural therapeutics — farm-to-market arteries, targeted input shields, & logistics efficiency. True sovereignty lies not in subsidizing pain, but engineering resilience. The harvest of stability is sown in infrastructure & productivity. Go big on Community access roads. Go big on PDM. #2026/2027Budget

Architects of Uganda’s 2026/2027 budget need to up the volume on this. Push more resources into high impact agricultural value chains. Measure the results and go again in the 2027/2028 budget — and again. @StateHouseUg @mofpedU @CSBAGUGANDA @ParliamentUG @pamdebams @MAAIF_Uganda

As the race for the Speaker of the 12th Parliament descends into this labyrinth — a Byzantine hallway of twists, turns, and concealed daggers — it’s time for Hon. @OfwonoOpondo, Hon. Alioni Yorke Odria, and perhaps DP leader @norbertmao to convene at Lamont, the Old Bulindo Bar, and we chart a way forward. I will also alert Ndugu E. Olobo to join us. After all, it’s Friday — and in politics, even the Holy Roman Empire occasionally needed a cold beer before the next knife appeared in someone’s back.

Let’s first sort this ongoing #ebola blackmail on Uganda by @WHO , @CNN and @FoxNews before we go to Sickle cell burden.

The Arsenal #PremierLeague Championship party at Lamont this Sunday evening — 24th May 2026.

.WATCH: Aaron Akampa, Head of Enterprise Banking @stanbicug, “For us, this is not a CSR programme it is a massive business opportunity. Women-led businesses are proving extremely disciplined borrowers, with a loss ratio below 0.5%, and that tells us this is a segment worth financing at scale.” #ChimpReportsNews @dfcugroup #DFCUWomenInBusiness Details: bit.ly/2OqE00M

The @rihanna on @Arsenal !

The Politics of Ebola and Why Uganda Must Fight Back. - 91.8 Boona FM boonafm.com/the-politics-of-…

The Politics of Ebola and Why Uganda Must Fight Back. ========================== Global health authorities like the @WHO , with outlets such as @CNN and @FoxNews , routinely distort dynamics by framing Uganda—which maintains zero local cases and zero deaths from community transmission—as part of a broad regional crisis, despite the problem residing squarely in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s epicenter with roughly 575 suspected cases, 51 confirmed, and 148 suspected deaths as of May 21, 2026. Uganda’s six prior successful containments underscore its efficacy, yet the World Health Organization’s emergency declaration inflates urgency for funding; CNN pushes partisan narratives blaming United States aid shifts as abandonment; Fox News sensationalizes without strain-specific precision. They can’t even truth tell that fluid transmission yields reproduction numbers far below respiratory viruses, limiting pandemic potential! The foregoing mirrors 2020 coronavirus distortions, where mobility-fueled waves and policy frictions drove over 3.4 percent United States economic contraction, amplified mortality stories, and eroded confidence—directly contributing to Donald Trump’s electoral defeat. Democrats, eyeing 2026 midterm gains amid vulnerabilities, may weaponize this to portray targeted surveillance inefficiencies as global health neglect, mobilizing fear to reclaim congressional power through manufactured crisis rather than data. Uganda must aggressively counter these bad narratives with transparent, evidence-based communication—highlighting rapid local successes and the Democratic Republic of Congo origin—to safeguard sovereignty, deter exploitative politics, and prevent selective epidemiology from dictating outcomes once more. Precision over panic is the way. It’s great to see that Uganda’s President H.E @KagutaMuseveni — @UgandaMFA and @UgandaMediaCent are confronting and calling out the distortions. All patriotic Ugandans and Africans must join in. It’s also time for an African Union led response in confronting public health emergencies and other human security challenges facing the Continent.

“Ugandan banks are posting billions in profits while many SMEs cannot access affordable loans. Financial inclusion must go beyond mobile apps and slogans.” Copied via @SokoAnalyst replacing Kenya with UG.

Classic everyday practice of adaptive leadership. 👍