Change and continuity in the politics of government-business relations in Museveni’s Uganda

Since the 1990s, the National Resistance Movement (NRM) government has undertaken market-based reforms which have sought to reduce the economic role of the state while promoting the private sector to become the prime motor of development. The reforms have promised to transform relations between government and business. We argue, however, that the government has maintained much discretionary authority over the distribution of public resources affecting the fortunes of larger businesses. In particular, the political executive has continued to use state resources in favour of select foreign and Ugandan entrepreneurs, primarily for important political and economic reasons. Conversely, the executive has denied public resources to entrepreneurs deemed too close to political opponents as well as used preferential resource allocations to weaken collective action by organised business. Secondly, we consider the concerns being voiced over (a) growing foreign economic dominance, including the economic limitations of foreign investment, and (b) limited government assistance for developing local private enterprise. In response to these concerns, the government has recognised the need for greater state ownership and state interventions in the market, which, we conclude, will continue to maintain the patrimonial character of government-business relations.