Ugandans are battling to make ends meet as the cost of daily goods skyrockets. Authorities blame the situation on the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak and Ukraine’s escalating conflict.
Susan Wasige, who earns just $5 a day, can no longer afford to buy soap, which costs $2, or cooking oil, which costs $4, in order to feed herself and her three children. “We can hardly afford to purchase anything.
For weeks, I have only given the children food that has been cooked in water; when I have margarine, I put it into the sauce so they may eat it. “We even give up sugar because we can’t afford it; everything is so costly,” the Kampala resident explains.
Vegetable oil prices jumped by 23 percent in March, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. In a speech to Parliament two weeks ago, Uganda’s state minister of finance attempted to soothe the populace by stating that his nation was not the only one plagued by these difficulties.
“The situation has deteriorated as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has further affected the supply of oil, grains such as wheat, maize, and sunflower oil, as well as critical metals like as a and niluminumckel.”
“The two nations are important producers and exporters of these goods,” David Bahati remarked.
According to Herbert Jaluum, a business consultant, the free-market system is harming Ugandans.
“The government should have the power, interest, or desire to be able to dictate some of these things because leaving everything to market forces means leaving everything to business people or the private sector,” says Herbert Jaluum, CEO of Young Treps, a company management and consulting organization.
With huge upheavals reshaping the global order, Uganda will almost certainly need to undertake strategic reforms and seek out new suppliers. Not an easy feat, given that Kampala purchased 48 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine in 2020, according to Human Rights Watch.
