"Our people respect conservation, but they also need to eat and earn. If we can protect the most critical breeding zones while opening up part of the 200 square kilometres for regulated community fishing, we protect both the fish and the people," Maseruka said.

UNOC’s bulk procurement system and strategic fuel reserves provide some protection against sudden supply disruptions. The company is responsible for bulk petroleum imports and has a mandate to manage storage facilities and strategic reserves, measures intended to strengthen Uganda’s security of supply. However, strategic reserves cannot repeal the laws of the global oil market. If international crude prices remain elevated, the cost of replacing imported fuel eventually rises. Storage can provide breathing room but it cannot permanently insulate Uganda from international prices.

“Twine has told me that his five Fraine Supermarket branches employ 720 people, while his other companies employ more than 600 people. These are jobs being created for Ugandans, and the money generated remains within and continues to circulate in our economy,”Archbishop Kaziimba said.

When the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) aggressively enforces digital systems like EFRIS or increases implicit transaction levies on an economy already choked by a 4.1% inflation rate, it doesn’t create wealth but panic. 

The three-day festival is being held under the theme, “Brewing Prosperity, Cultivating Heritage: Advancing Coffee & Cocoa Value Chains for Youth Employment and Economic Transformation in Busoga.”

The URA Commissioner General, John R. Musinguzi said rental income tax compliance had declined despite overall tax collections recording double-digit growth. 

The party also drew lessons from neighbouring Kenya, where, it said, Kenyans stood firm to protect Uhuru Park and Jeevanjee Gardens in Nairobi from developers, preserving them as the lungs and pride of Nairobi through the efforts of patriots like the late Prof. Wangari Maathai.