Overview:
Lesotho plans to buy 20 buses from Uganda’s state-owned carmaker Kiira Motors, and President Yoweri Museveni has pledged to donate five more to the kingdom.
Lesotho plans to buy 20 buses from Uganda’s state-owned carmaker, Kiira Motors, in what Ugandan officials have described as a vote of confidence in the country’s young vehicle industry.
The request was delivered on Tuesday to President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe by Lesotho’s Foreign Minister, Limpho Tau.
Mr Tau was travelling as a special envoy of Prime Minister Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane, who wants the buses to help meet the transport needs of the small mountain kingdom, which is surrounded by South Africa.
Mr Museveni welcomed the request and directed Haruna Kyeyune Kasolo, Uganda’s minister of state for regional affairs, to work with Kiira Motors to complete the purchase.
Mr Matekane also asked Uganda for five more buses. Mr Museveni agreed and pledged to donate them, bringing the expected supply to 25.
Kiira Motors grew out of a student project at Makerere University. Its first bus came off the production line at its plant in Jinja, eastern Uganda.
Allan Muhumuza, an official in the mobility bureau of the science, technology and innovation secretariat in the Office of the President, said the order showed that Uganda could become a supplier of vehicles to the rest of Africa.
“Lesotho coming to commit demonstrates their confidence in the technology we have built,” he said.
Mr Muhumuza said Uganda was looking to sell across the African Continental Free Trade Area, which aims to create a single market across the continent.
“Our target is the entire African Continental Free Trade Area. So, we welcome all the other countries. The technology we have built is fit for purpose,” he said.
He pointed to a journey Kiira Motors made late last year, when its Kayoola electric coach travelled more than 13,000km from Kampala to Cape Town and back through six countries.
The company has said the trip was meant to prove its vehicles could handle long distances and varied African road conditions.
“We are ready to meet their demand,” Mr Muhumuza said.