Nonetheless, experts warn that protectionist developments threat undermining COMESA’s regional market
Kampala, Uganda | JULIUS BUSINGE | Twelve years after its conception, Uganda’s Raise Uganda, Create Uganda (BUBU) policy has change into every a image of the country’s industrial ambition and a test case for how some distance nationwide need can stretch within a regional trade bloc.
First conceived in 2014 and formally launched in 2017, BUBU was designed to decrease Uganda’s trade deficit, stimulate home manufacturing and tilt person inquire of in the direction of within the community produced items. In apply, it has reshaped public procurement principles, channelled financing in the direction of chosen industries and embedded “local explain material” requirements in divulge contracts.
The implications are considered. Bigger than 1,000 within the community manufactured merchandise like now been certified by the Uganda National Bureau of Requirements, per govt figures.
“Through the years, we now like also observed a transformation within the decisions of Ugandan patrons with many preferring within the community made merchandise, in particular in furniture, leather-based and leather-based merchandise, iron and steel merchandise, constructing materials, cement, food and drinks, electric cables, conductors, and pharmaceuticals,” mentioned James Makula, Senior Commercial Officer and BUBU desk officer on the Ministry of Replace, Replace and Cooperatives.
“The advise has been low manufacturing by local producers, failure by some local merchandise to conform to quality requirements, and the negative mindset by some Ugandans that local merchandise are unavailable or of uncomfortable quality.”
Makula mentioned the govtis dedicated to helping local producers dominate the home market within the approach future.
He mentioned govt procurement now contains BUBU-compliant bidding documents, in particular for constructing materials, stationery, and furniture. He saidl person preferences are also step by step shifting, with a growing flee for food for quality local items, supported by financing from the Uganda Pattern Monetary institution (UDB) and Uganda Pattern Company (UDC) to serve manufacturers scale manufacturing means.
Without reference to those achievements, challenges remain. SMEs face high charges of certification, in total exceeding Shs3million, whereas initiating capital for many local businesses is beneath Shs1 million. Taxation and regulatory hurdles proceed to constrain enhance, and imports soundless dominate grocery store shelves, limiting the visibility of local merchandise.
Regional standpoint, threat
As Uganda’s industrial policy celebrates its twelfth anniversary, a regional standpoint brings complexity. The COMESA Competition and Person Safety Rules, 2025, warning in opposition to nationwide need insurance policies that discriminate in opposition to items or products and companies from assorted member states.
Protectionist developments, whether or no longer through procurement preferences, import restrictions, or non-tariff obstacles (NTBs), can battle with COMESA’s purpose of a unified regional market.
Willard Mwemba, the chief govt officer of the COMESA Competition & Person Commission, has repeatedly urged COMESA member states to uphold the bloc’s procuring and selling principles to present protection to ravishing opponents, person different and market integration.
He stresses that opponents and person protection authorized pointers play an distinguished characteristic in ensuring that markets remain delivery and aggressive, and cautions in opposition to insurance policies that can even distort trade or disadvantage producers and patrons all through borders.
Mwemba emphasises that patrons all through the Neatly-liked Market must be attentive to their rights to permit them to create instructed choices and advise unfair practices that end result from discriminatory “prefer local” measures that restrict unsuitable-border commerce.
He has also highlighted the importance of harmonising opponents and person authorized pointers all through member states to eradicate obstacles that fragment markets, stressing that compliance fosters sure bet, encourages investment, and avoids penalties or sanctions that will maybe come up from non-compliance to regional principles.
Mwemba’s views underline the need for dialogue and negotiation when nationwide insurance policies affect regional trade responsibilities and he urges member states to work collaboratively to resolve trade tensions below the COMESA framework as a substitute of resorting to unilateral protectionist measures.
David Kibet Kemei, the director traditional of the Competition Authority of Kenya instructed The Unbiased on October 10, 2025 on the sidelines of the COMESA Competition Commission’s 9th Annual Business Journalists Workshop, third Annual Press Conference, and the 2nd Business Journalists’ Competition Award Ceremony in Nairobi that there is a threat when particular person member states put in force insurance policies some distance-off to COMESA’s traditional mission.
“There are some industries that truly care more about the patrons and they like got come up with buyer insurance policies which would be person kindly… and there are some which would be soundless lagging on the encourage of. Preferential cure of nationwide merchandise dangers cutting back person different and undermining opponents all through borders,” he mentioned.
Across COMESA, protectionism manifests in different kinds. Kenya’s sugar trade, to illustrate, loved protection through COMESA-backed safeguard measures for more than twenty years, limiting responsibility-free imports from regional companions to stabilize home manufacturing.
The safeguard, which capped imports at 350,000 tonnes every yr, formally ended on November 30, 2025, because the govtshifted toward competitiveness and trace addition as a substitute of continued trade protection.
Varied international locations also represent protectionist developments: Egypt enforces complex product registration and local certification, Ethiopia maintains restrictive import licensing and divulge dominance in key sectors, Zambia makes explain of export and import controls on maize and diverse commodities, and Zimbabwe, Malawi, Sudan, and Eswatini depend on licensing, bans, and comfortable product lists that defend home industries. Even Rwanda, fundamentally legitimate-integration, applies stringent requirements and inspections that act as de facto trade obstacles.
“The COMESA Competition regulations prohibit anti-aggressive practices, including americans that hinder trade and person welfare,” notes the regional enforcement framework, underscoring that insurance policies enjoy BUBU must be carefully utilized to care for faraway from breaching COMESA responsibilities. National need applications that decide on home suppliers over regional opponents fragment markets, elevate transaction charges, and erode belief among member states, limiting the prospective features of deeper regional integration.
President Museveni’s stance
Uganda’s President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has repeatedly advocated for prioritizing local manufacturing, linking the BUBU policy to broader industrialisation dreams. He emphasizes that industrial parks and joint ventures with local producers are central to constructing the country’s manufacturing means.
“Every shilling of public expenditure must soundless pork up the local economy,” Museveni has mentioned, noting that the govthelps factories, agro-processors, and vocational practicing to make certain formative years transition from job seekers to producers. In value range speeches, he over and over stresses trace addition, competitiveness, and adherence to quality requirements to permit home items to compete successfully every nationally and regionally.
Balancing the nationwide BUBU approach with COMESA principles is complex but severe. While Uganda can incentivize local manufacturing through skills style, means constructing, and quality requirements, outright exclusion of regional merchandise would violate COMESA regulations.
Consultants stress that Uganda need to care for bettering local industrial means with out erecting obstacles that undermine the free motion of items, products and companies, and capital at some level of the 21-member bloc, which has a inhabitants of over 560 million and a combined GDP of about US$768 billion per files from COMESA secretariat.
James Makula underscores that the regional standpoint informs home approach. “The change in person need is also attributed to deliberate efforts by govt and companions to invent the technique of the local deepest sector, in particular within the placement of conformity to quality requirements. Regional integration stays distinguished to make certain Ugandan merchandise can compete all through COMESA markets,” he mentioned.
As Uganda moves forward, the BUBU policy’s success will increasingly more be measured no longer ultimate by home uptake but also by compliance with regional trade principles. The approach for 2026 and past emphasizes agro-industrialization, trace addition within the mining and oil sectors, and bettering competitiveness in regional and international markets.
Authorities officers and trade experts stress that insurance policies encouraging local manufacturing need to align with COMESA’s vision to care for faraway from fragmenting the regional market, ensuring that Uganda stays a aggressive player within Eastern and Southern Africa.
The first 12 years of Raise Uganda, Create Uganda illustrates every the prospective and the pitfalls of nationwide industrial need in a regional context.
Inserting the balance
While person preferences are shifting, manufacturing means is growing, and industrial parks are increasing, experts warning that ultimate insurance policies according to COMESA trade principles can make certain that Uganda advantages from regional integration, promotes sustainable industrial enhance, and protects person welfare all through borders.
In a region the establish protectionist measures soundless persist—from Kenya’s historical sugar safeguards to Egypt’s non-tariff obstacles and Zambia’s commodity controls—Uganda’s BUBU policy serves as every a model and a cautionary memoir.
The advise stays striking the ravishing balance between nationwide industrial style and regional responsibilities, ensuring that the dual dreams of local enhance and regional market integration are harmonized.
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COMESA Protectionist Practices Snapshot
Uganda
- Raise Uganda, Create Uganda (BUBU) policy promotes local procurement and consumption
- Authorities encourages need for home items in public procurement, constructing, and industrial projects
- Challenges exist in balancing BUBU with COMESA principles to care for faraway from trade obstacles
Kenya
- Prolonged sugar safeguard measures for over twenty years (ended Nov 2025)
- Restricted responsibility-free sugar imports to 350,000 tonnes every yr
- Shifted focus toward competitiveness and trace addition
Egypt
- Complex product registration, local certification, and conformity assessments
- Beautiful product lists in agriculture and processed meals
- High compliance charges for regional exporters
Ethiopia
- Import licensing and foreign trade controls
- Pronounce dominance in key sectors (cement, agro-processing)
- Discretionary customs practices hindering regional entry
Zambia
- Export/import controls on maize and diverse agricultural commodities
- Administrative obstacles affecting predictability for regional traders
Zimbabwe
- Import bans and licensing for food, drinks, dairy, traditional manufactures
- Insurance policies justified on home industrial protection grounds
Malawi
- Import licensing, seasonal bans, and discretionary permits on agriculture
- Restricts regional suppliers despite COMESA commitments
Rwanda
- Strict requirements, inspections, and sanitary/phytosanitary controls
- Once in some time acts as de facto trade obstacles
Democratic Republic of Congo
- Just a few border costs, variable customs valuation, and local taxes
- Dilapidated enforcement creates indirect protection for home producers
Sudan
- Licensing systems, import bans, and discretionary customs procedures
- Uneven implementation limits regional market collect staunch of entry to
Eswatini
- Beautiful product protections in sugar and agro-processing
- Restricts elephantine responsibility-free collect staunch of entry to for COMESA suppliers
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