Awwal 29, 1432 H/March 4, 2011, SPA -- Uganda's planned investment more than double in February compared to the previous month, helped by the passage of a presidential election, Reuters quoted the state-run Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) as saying on Friday. The east African country which discovered commercial hydrocarbon deposits in its west in 2006, drew investments worth $407.7 million in February from January's $122 million. "The country has been in the midst of an election period and there were fears that investors would be wary of investing in Uganda," said Doris Mitti, communications manager at UIA. "We were hugely surprised by what happened instead. we think that there is a growing sense among investors that Uganda is becoming a very stable country where security is guaranteed and that is motivating them to invest here." Uganda held a disputed presidential and parliamentary election on February 18 which handed incumbent, President Yoweri Museveni 68 percent of the votes against his major rival, Kizza Besigye's 26 percent. Besigye and five other opponents have all rejected the results and have called on their supporters to mass on the streets and demand a fresh poll. Although there had been wide expectations of violence during the elections, it has been largely calm since polling day although a heavy security presence remains in the capital Kampala. UIA said it licensed 29 projects in the month. Once up and running, UIA estimates, they will create 12,265 jobs compared with 2,590 jobs recorded in January from the same number of projects. -- SPA
