President Yoweri Museveni said that the issue of rising commodity prices is “small” and will be managed soon. This was during his state of the nation address on Tuesday.
He narrated about countering many serious problems in the 1986 bush war when he and the soldiers once fought without ammunition. In this case, his concern was a lack of food.
Responding to the comments, James Onen, The Fatboy Show presenter, said that the issue of high commodity prices is minor only to someone like the President.
“If you're not paying for your groceries at home, of course, it's a small issue. I don't think anyone in the first family is going to the market themselves to buy tomatoes or complaining about their prices. I've not seen anyone from the first family ever being photographed or seen at any marketplace,” Fatboy said.
Olive Najjuma, the other co-presenter on the show, replied that she has also never observed any member of the first family shopping in a supermarket or any other food market.
She said, “The only time and the only person I've seen is the President, and that was during the campaigns. Away from that, you won't see him ever again. They will stop you on the road, and you’ll be in traffic for hours because his convoy is to pass by."
The President, in the address, also maintained that the waivers and subsidies as a way of managing the escalating commodity prices are not an option but engagements such as talking to global actors like Russia and US are ongoing.
However, despite the economic hurdles over the last 2 years, he announced that Uganda has attained a middle-income status with a national economy of about 45.7 billion dollars by the exchange rate method and a GDP per capita of 1,046 dollars.
Fatboy, surprised, noticed that Twitter, as a social media company, makes an even higher amount.
Olive additionally commented, “meanwhile 45.7billion dollars is slightly above the country's population, so what is he saying? That each Ugandan has made a million dollars? We know that is not true because among those are minors who are not making any money.”
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive, and Sarah every weekday from 6 am to 10 am on RX Radio.