By Rowland Bon Nkahebwa
Africa-Press – Uganda. Some Ugandans have asked: “What exactly is the Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID) and why is it involved in everything?” From coffee to tea, beef to dairy, tourism to government communications, it seems PACEID is everywhere. Others went as far as sharing animations on social media, supposedly mocking Odrek Rwabwogo, the Chairman of PACEID, as having a hand in everything. This was meant to shed a negative light on the institution’s initiatives, but ignorantly, they couldn’t have been more right.
Yes, PACEID is EVERYWHERE, and for a good reason. Exports touch everything.
PACEID proposes that Uganda must agree to generate the necessary consensus across key institutions of government, private sector stakeholders (exporters, producers), lawmakers, technical staff, and all categories of leaders on very deliberate actions to make EXPORTS a key growth weapon for Uganda’s economy.
When some of you hear “exports,” you may think only of goods packed in containers and shipped abroad. But the journey of an export starts much earlier, on the farm deep down in Ibanda district, in the factory in Masaka, at the tourism site in Kasese, and in the brand image of the country. To succeed in international trade, Uganda must present itself as a reliable, high-quality, and trusted source of goods and services. This means our standards, infrastructure, financing, and communication must all align across sectors.
Why the Wide Reach?
At its core, PACEID operates on a four-pillar model: securing markets (opening doors in new and existing markets), ensuring standards and compliance (helping Ugandan producers meet global quality and safety expectations), building export infrastructure (from storage to transport to border efficiency) and facilitating export financing (connecting businesses to affordable export credit and financial tools).
None of these pillars stands alone. To export beef, for example, you need quality veterinary services (agriculture), good roads (infrastructure), trade policies (government), and market promotion (communications). The same applies to coffee, sugar, steel, fruits, flowers, and even tourism.
That is why PACEID must coordinate across all sectors, public and private, to succeed. This work involves ministries, local governments, standards agencies, banks, transporters, and private producers. Without this joined-up effort, Uganda cannot achieve its export ambitions.
To double Uganda’s export earnings by $6 billion by 2028, after research, PACEID identified thirteen priority sectors that have the greatest potential to deliver results. These are: coffee, tea, beef, dairy, sugar, flowers, grains, matooke, fruits & vegetables, steel, cement, fish, and tourism.
Each sector requires policy, investment, skills, standards, value addition, and coordination to link them to all the different players: farmers, processors, exporters, financiers, and government agencies.
This naturally makes PACEID’s work cross-cutting. The committee engages with institutions like the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) on product standards, Trade Representatives on market intelligence, and even private sector players on financing and logistics. All this is necessary to create sustainable, export-ready value chains that meet international expectations.
PACEID is also deeply invested in communication and Uganda’s export reputation. In global markets, perception is as important as product quality. Just like Bill Gates once stated, “In the global economy, information is the currency of success.”
Misinformation and half-truths about PACEID’s role often come from an informed or misinformed view, ignoring how export success depends on connecting multiple dots across sectors.
Why Communication Matters
Some people wonder why PACEID is concerned with government communication. However bad or uncoordinated communication damages Uganda’s image in the eyes of international buyers, investors, and tourists. A damaged reputation hurts exports. This is why PACEID championed the creation of the National Strategic Communications Committee housed by the Ministry of Information, Communications Technology & National Guidance, a platform bringing together communicators from key government ministries and agencies to present a united and positive national message.
A country that exports well must also communicate well.
Every headline, especially those from national newspapers, has consequences far beyond our borders. An example is last year when a leading daily published a headline claiming that ‘Child Labour Doubled After COVID-19.’ What the story failed to explain was that the data came from a survey conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown period, when schools across Uganda were closed due to a nationwide health emergency. Naturally, during that time, many children helped at home or in family businesses, not because of policy failure or systemic exploitation, but due to exceptional global circumstances.
This headline was published only hours after Uganda formally presented its case for re-entry into the US Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), a trade arrangement suspended over alleged human rights concerns. Such reporting, lacking context and clarity, risks reinforcing negative perceptions and undermining national efforts to restore economic partnerships.
This is not an isolated case. Other damaging headlines have included:
“Transformer Oil Found in Kampala Food”
“NDA Looked Away as AIDS Drug Fed to Animals”
“Chicken on Market Laced with AIDS Drugs”
These stories quickly circulate beyond Uganda, shaping perceptions among foreign buyers, investors, development partners, and governments.
It is fully understood that media houses are businesses competing in a tough market where attention-grabbing stories sell. However, in matters that affect national economic interests, such as exports and tourism, there must be a sense of responsibility and patriotism.
The business of exports is the business of the whole country. All Ugandans, farmers, manufacturers, civil servants, media, and private citizens need to understand and support this mission. Because when Uganda wins on the global market, every Ugandan benefits.
The writer is the Communications Officer – Presidential Advisory Committee on Exports and Industrial Development (PACEID).
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