Uganda: Use Kiira buses in oversight, Members of Parliament (MPs) urge

A House committee has urged Parliament to procure locally made buses from Kiira Motors for its oversight visits, as MPs pressed the government to translate years of public investment in research into commercially viable products, sustainable businesses and job creation.

Debating a Report of the House Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation, the Chairperson Hon. Samuel Opio, said government institutions should support local innovations by becoming buyers, having identified a persistent gap between developing technologies and getting them onto the market. 

“There is low uptake of technology by the public sector, for example Kiira Motors. We have recommended that Parliament should use these buses in our oversight,” Opio said during the House sitting on Tuesday, 03 November 2026. 

The sitting was chaired by Speaker Jacob Oboth.

Kitgum Municipality MP, Hon. Denis Oneka Lit backed support for the corporation, pointing to its progress from Makerere University’s early vehicle innovation to buses operating in Kampala.

“Kiira Motors Corporation at the moment has tremendous progress. I was a guild President in 2011 when Makerere School of Technology invented a small car, now we have Eco buses on Kampala streets. Such innovations need a boost if we are to grow our economy,” Oneka Lit said.

Kiira Motors, according to the report has received Shs223 billion over 12 years but remains dependent on government funding. Its Jinja plant can produce 2,500 vehicles annually, expandable to 10,000.

Concerns about commercial sustainability extend to the Presidential Initiative on Banana Industrial Development, which has received Shs311 billion over the past 20 years but generated Shs15.55 billion in revenue. 

Hon. Boniface Okot (NRM, Kole South) questioned the prolonged support and proposed pausing new STI projects until supervision improves, cognisant that only 24 of 151 approved Secretariat positions are filled to supervise 141 funded projects.

The report also found that only five of 84 startups supported under UIRI’s business incubation programme successfully exited the Incubation phase.

Hon. Emmanuel Banya (NRM, Koboko County) called for a competitive commercialisation fund, citing Muni University students who invented a cold room that regulates temperatures and a GPS assisted technology that alerts farmers when cattle stray beyond designated boundaries.

“I would wish the committee to recommend government to come up with a competitive fund to commercialise these ideas. I am sure other universities have big technologies,” Banya said.

Shadow Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Eunice Otuko, demanded measurable results from public expenditure. 

“A lot of funding has gone into this sector, we are asking: where are the patents, where are the jobs?” she asked, calling for periodic reporting on products and employment.

Opposition Whip Hon. Paul Mwiru questioned restrictions preventing research institutions from commercialising their work, while Bugangaizi East MP, Hon. Onesimus Twinamasiko supported expanding the Kween sericulture initiative nationwide.

Responding for the STI minister, the Health Minister, Hon. Chris Baryomunsi noted the need to take the products from laboratories to the market.  

“We take the point that it is not enough for universities to take up initiatives and stop at that. We should go beyond that, take the project to commercialisation stage,” he said. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.