By Spy Uganda
President William Ruto met with Ugandan counterpart Yoweri Museveni on his first visit to Uganda as president on Sunday. He stated that they discussed topics of mutual interest, particularly trade, security, and agriculture.
“Kenya and Uganda have a firm partnership based on decades of East African brotherhood, strong cooperation, and consistent engagement,” President Ruto said on Sunday.
President Ruto’s visit to Uganda comes just a week after the Ugandan President met former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to Museveni, Uhuru visited him in his capacity as the facilitator of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Peace Process.
On Ruto’s visit, sources who spoke to us intimated that the two Heads of State were discussing a trade blockade.
In recent months, Kenya has restricted the issuance of permits needed by Ugandan processors to import dairy products into Kenya.
One of Uganda’s largest processors, Brookside, trading under the Fresh Dairy brand, whose parent company is also the largest industry operator in Kenya, said it had not exported a single litre of milk to Kenya since the blockade began.
“The rising stockpiles of milk have impacted farm-gate prices of milk, which have dropped exponentially,” Brookside Uganda General Manager Benson Mwangi told journalists in Kampala. Uganda’s industry regulator, the Dairy Development Authority (DDA), says Kenyan authorities are limiting the number of export permits for powdered milk from the country.
