By Mulengera Reporters
At the 2025 Africa Engineering Week which concluded on Saturday, in Kampala, National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) managing director Dr. Silver Mugisha delivered warning message to engineering fraternity in Uganda, that the future will not be secured by imported ideas, but by Ugandan-made solutions.
Speaking before a gathering of engineers from across the black continent, Mugisha said Uganda risks remaining dependent and vulnerable if its professionals do not break free from textbook thinking and instead embrace practical innovation. He argued that self-reliance is not just an aspiration but a survival strategy in a global system where dependency often translates into weakness.
To drive the point home, he invoked familiar local examples, of the artisans in Katwe who assemble maize mills without ever stepping inside a lecture hall, and local innovators who once put together a working helicopter prototype without formal engineering degrees. For Mugisha, these are not curiosities, but proof that Ugandans have the ability to create solutions from scratch.
“What any human being has done anywhere in the world, Ugandans too can do,” Mugisha told participants, urging the engineers to stop thinking that only China or America can innovate. He noted that innovation is not a nationality, but it’s is about mindset.
Mugisha contrasted the theory-driven training of many professional engineers with the resourcefulness of local artisans, saying Uganda’s educated engineers often limit themselves to designs and blueprints, while the country desperately needs tangible products and systems.
His own institution, NWSC, has walked this path of self-reliance. Since taking the reins in 2013, Mugisha has overseen its expansion from 23 to 282 service towns and boosted annual surpluses from UGX 34 billion to UGX 150 billion. A large part of that success, he said, came from building internal digital systems, such as billing and payment platforms, rather than outsourcing.
When NWSC systems came under a cyberattack recently, Mugisha said the in-house platforms were back online within two days, while outsourced ones took months to recover. For him, the lesson is here is that owning the process means owning the solution.
The NWSC boss also challenged engineers to embrace “reverse engineering,” breaking down existing technologies to understand how they work, and then building Ugandan versions that meet local needs. He argued that this approach will not only cut dependence on imports but also protect national security, strengthen the economy, and instill pride in homegrown achievement. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
