Jeff Lule
14 May 2008
Kampala — COTTON ginners have asked the Government to establish a fully-fledged tertiary training institute in textile and clothing technology. "This shall gradually resolve the problem of lack of trained textile technicians and engineers to fast-track the process of creating more jobs," said Richard Mubiru, the secretary general of the Textiles Manufactures Association of Uganda.
He was presenting a paper during a cotton and textile consultative stakeholders workshop at Hotel Africana recently.
Mubiru accused the Government of failure to support the sector. He argued that this was the reason the sector had not attracted foreign investors.
He asserted that the finance ministry had acknowledged in its competitiveness and investment climate strategy for 2006-2010, that the cotton and textiles sub-sector supported about six million Ugandans across the value chain.
"Therefore, there is need to address all impediments to optimum capacity advancement of the sector," Mubiru emphasised.
He said two textile mills; Phenix and Southern Range Nyanza, were functional after investments in excess of $30m in modernisation and equipment up-grades.
These, he disclosed, directly support the livelihoods of 3,000 people, with annual income in excess of sh2.5b.
Mubiru explained that cotton production had improved. He said this had enabled millers to offer various products for local and international markets.
Dr. Maggie Kigozi, the head of the Uganda Investment Authority, said in a separate interview that the country targeted a million bales of cotton annually.
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