Kampala, Uganda | Dokolo North County MP Joseph Jones Ogwal has asked the Government to activate a proposed industrial park in Dokolo District, saying the facility would create jobs for young people and stimulate agro-industrialisation in the district.
Ogwal made the call on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, while contributing to the debate on President Yoweri Museveni’s State of the Nation Address during a plenary sitting of Parliament.
Ogwal said Dokolo District had offered the Government 400 acres of land for the establishment of an industrial park, but the project had not yet been activated.
He said activating the industrial park would provide employment opportunities for young people who leave Dokolo to seek jobs elsewhere, particularly in Kampala.
Ogwal said that if the industrial park had been activated, most of the young people from Dokolo who travel to Kampala to work as security guards would instead have jobs within the district.
Ogwal said the industrial park would also provide a platform for processing agricultural produce and exploiting raw materials within the agricultural value chain, which he said would boost household incomes and transform Dokolo into an economic centre.
Ogwal said the district also needed an industrial park to accelerate industrialisation by utilising the abundant raw materials from the agricultural value chain and positioning Dokolo as one of Uganda’s major economic centres.
He further pointed to Dokolo’s strategic location between Soroti and Lira cities as an advantage that could strengthen the economic potential of the proposed facility.
Ogwal said his call had already attracted the attention of the Minister of State for Industry, David Bahati, who contacted him and promised to provide an update on the status of the project.
“Hon. David Bahati serves as the Minister of State for Industry called me immediately and said tomorrow he will give an answer on the issue of Dokolo industrial park,” Ogwal told Press.
Ogwal also asked the Government to increase funding under the Parish Development Model (PDM), saying the programme was performing well in his constituency but beneficiaries needed more capital to strengthen their enterprises.
He also asked the Government to take into account the effects of climate change on PDM beneficiaries, saying environmental challenges could delay households from realising returns from their investments and meeting their obligations.
He also urged the Government to consider the effects of climate change on PDM beneficiaries, noting that the challenges could delay them from realising the benefits of the programme and meeting their obligations to the Government.
Ogwal said his position was informed by the President’s discussion of the three factors of production — land, capital and labour — in the State of the Nation Address.
He said the President had recognised over the years that Uganda had abandoned the productive use of land, while the country also had labour that needed improvement in quality and insufficient capital to drive production.
According to Ogwal, Government programmes such as PDM are intended to address the capital challenge by promoting economic inclusion and enabling households to participate more meaningfully in production.
He said increasing support to such programmes, alongside the activation of the Dokolo industrial park, would strengthen economic opportunities for residents and contribute to the wider industrialisation agenda.