The Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organization, ISO, Colonel Emmy Katabazi, has called on the National Planning Authority, NPA, to ensure tactical planning ahead of the fourth National Development Plan, NDP-IV, in order to successfully achieve various set goals by the government.

The strategic direction of NDP IV was approved by Cabinet in March 2024 and is in line with the strategy of growing the economy ten-fold from the current 50 billion as of FY 2023/24 to USD 500 billion in the next 15 years in a transformative, inclusive, and sustainable manner, according to the ministry.

While representing the Minister for Security, Maj. Gen. Jim Muhwezi, during a consultative meeting organized by the NPA in Gulu City on Wednesday, August 14th, 2024, Col. Katabazi said there is an urgent need to ensure value addition in all the sectors of government, including tourism, agriculture, and forestry, among others.

In the tourism sector, Katabazi said the government should ensure infrastructural development by establishing what he termed tactical facilities, including international hotels, good roads, and airports in all the national parks in the country.

“Now that the government is building an international airport in Kidepo National Park, nobody has been invited to build an international hotel to provide hospitality services to tourists visiting the park,” said Col. Katabazi.

He further said the NPA should plan and guide the government on how to empower youths in Karamoja, especially those living around Kidepo National Park, by providing them with incentives that can facilitate engagement in money-making activities.

“Karamoja has 52 commercial and industrial minerals. The NPA should provide the government with strategies to empower the people of Karamoja. We cannot talk about developing Uganda without Karamoja. How would you train youths living around Kidepo to embrace tourism? We need to unpackage the Karamoja region through tactical planning,” said Col. Katabazi.

According to Katabazi, despite various government interventions to spur development in Karamoja, the region is still therefore NPA should ensure tactical planning to draw up strategies to deliver the region into the money economy like other regions.

Regarding the implementation of the Parish Development Model (PDM, Col. Katabazi wondered why some civil servants had been demanding allowances to implement the program.

“The fact is, these CAOs and their commercial officers are asking for allowances to implement PDM. Who is causing confusion here? PDM is a government program that should be implemented successfully,” Col. Katabazi said.

Prof. Pamela Mbabazi, the Chairperson of NPA, said they are currently involved in the process of developing the National Development Program IV, which will run for the next five years once approved.

She noted that the NDP-IV will focus on value addition, production, and productivity to drive the economy.

The Minister of Finance and Planning, Amos Lugoloobi, said the proposed NDP-IV will form the basis for the effective implementation of all government plans.

“The NPD-IV also aims at more than doubling the country’s gross domestic production and will surely focus on stabilizing the economy and achieving the NRM strategic directions that focus on the growth and development of the country,” said Minister Lugoloobi.

He said NDP-IV further aims to cause higher household income and create more employment under the theme “Sustainable industrialization for inclusive growth, employment, and wealth creation.”

On the strategies to revamp the cattle economy in Northern Uganda, Dr. Joseph Muvawala, the NPA Executive Director, said they have proposed to the government to conduct massive restocking of cows in the coming NDP-IV.

During the same meeting, the Chief Coordinator for Operation Wealth Creation, Caleb Akandwanaho, aka Salim Saleh, guided the NPA to focus on the fundamentals, priorities, and enabling environment to achieve NDP-IV.

“The planning template should be redesigned in line with revolutionary thinking. We have too much capacity for value addition, but it’s not functional. About 60 agricultural processing facilities that were built in Acholi are not operational. Aligns the NDP according to factors of production. The same thing should be done in the Karamoja region,” said Gen. Saleh.