Here is the weird transition that nobody is talking about

Uganda loves politics. Newspapers splash politics on the front page every single day year on year.

Radio and television lead stories are of politics, after spending many hours of airtime talking politics on various programs. In WhatsApp groups, informal meetings over frothy drinks and roast, politics dominate, with each move analyzed. Many people earn a living as analysts.

Being election season, politics is in overdrive mode everywhere. Every street has hundreds of posters. TikTok loops in politics reel after reel. Millions are standing for elections. With more than 1.6 million (some people say 3 million) elected leaders, politics is up there with agriculture as one of the biggest sectors to employ people even when its contribution to GDP is not usually reflected in national data.

Given that President Museveni will be marking 40 years in power in January, 2026 (if he wins the forthcoming presidential elections), a transition has been on the lips of many including some ministers.

And in a country where many people eat and breathe politics, this is understandable. However, there is a transition that nobody is talking about yet it is critical to Uganda’s economy.

After experiencing wars for years, most parts of Uganda became relatively stable enabling many people to do business or even be employed uninterrupted. The businesspeople imported whatever Uganda needed and made lots of money. Some became manufacturers, hoteliers, real estate owners and provided whatever service the country needed.

The economy boomed making some people wealthy. Even those who had assets like land in urban areas saw a significant increase in their portfolios. Areas that were hitherto ancestral grounds for people who lived in Kampala became urban all of sudden.

At the same time, the country’s population started its upward trajectory, ballooning to the current levels of nearly 50 million people. Population growth can exert pressures on existing infrastructure and services and those who saw opportunities pocketed the proceeds.

Those who were ushered into Uganda’s economy of the early years of Museveni’s rule and a few others who had been doing business from the 1970s and 1980s during those troublesome years are now on their way out.

They are aging, aged or already dead. Those who became wealthy are leaving significant portfolios largely to people who can’t manage them. See, doing business in Uganda is relatively new dating back to the 19th century when the Arabs introduced trading as we know it today.

Even then, doing business was largely for foreigners. Many people doing business today are either the first or second generation in their families to do so. Both these generations largely don’t know what to do with their wealth once they are dead.

They have not been able to build businesses that can outlast them as they were no particular systems to follow. No governance structures like boards of directors or management systems.

The businesses simply grew from small shops into empires by Ugandan standards and the owners carried on — business as usual. That is why inheritance cases are dominating judicial courts with children suing their surviving parents or even asking courts to give them their inheritance when their parents are still alive. Such businesses will most likely not exist in the next decade or so.

Many people who worked their backs off (or benefited from corruption) have raised lazy children who have not been prepared to take over the businesses. The children prefer to live the life — drive fancy cars, buy expensive liquors in Kololo and Bugolobi bars, date slay queens or kings and holiday in Dubai.

Many such children inheriting significant wealth are going to be broke in a few years of their parents’ death. Those who don’t live that life don’t know how to handle banks. That explains why many banks advertise the properties within months of the proprietor’s death.

Companies with structures should not be too difficult to build if the owners realized that business acumen and tenacity are not always genetic. Not every son can run a business. Businesspeople need to build strong systems and let professionals run the business.

The children, if found wanting, can always earn dividends and live the life. We can learn from the big businesses operating here. If they can come here, set up a country office and employ people and appoint a board and remain successful, what stops Ugandan companies to do the same right here?

In the meantime, as Ugandan business owners continue to run their empires as kiosks, prepare to benefit from this transition. The kids will be selling at giveaway prices.

djjuuko@gmail.com

The writer is a communication and visibility consultant.