KAMPALA.
President Museveni is set to deliver his State of the Nation Address Thursday .
The function to take place at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds will start at 2pm, according to a statement issued by Parliament.
“…the fifth and last session of the 11th Parliament will commence tomorrow ,June 5,2025 with the State of the Nation Address at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds ,” the statement reads in part.
The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is used by the President to inform the nation about its present economic, political, and social condition. Opposition legislators usually shun SONA reasoning that Museveni is repetitive and brings nothing new every year he makes a similar address .
During the 2024 SONA, Mr Museveni informed the country that the economy to had grown from USD1.5bn in 1986 to now USD 55bn by the forex exchange method and USD 180.29 bn by the Purchasing Power Parity(PPP) method. With USD 1,182 per capita, Mr Museveni said Uganda had entered the lower middle income status.
“There are, however, still some trade barriers in the EAC. These are really road blocks to our prosperity. All the East Africans, should work to remove these bottlenecks by implementing fully the common market protocols, the Customs Union protocols, so that the fragmented markets of Africa, become one market.
With a more united African market, the President said Uganda was able to negotiate with other countries for market access – European Union, United States of America – USA, China, Russia, the Gulf, – India, etc.
“Internally, we have guided our people that the social- economic transformation can be realized through bonna basome (education of all) and bonna bagaggawale (prosperity for all) by joining the four money making sectors of: Commercial Agriculture; Manufacturing; Services; and ICT.
He said his government had provided grants or soft loans, for wealth creators to use in joining these sectors in case they do not have their own capital.
“These funds are: OWC, NAADS, PMA, Entandikwa, Parish Development Model, Emyooga, the Youth Fund, the Women Fund, GROW Money, etc. These funds are, mainly, for the low income people. The actors that are more empowered, should borrow from the UDB for agriculture, for manufacturing and some of the services, such as tourism” he said then .