Overview

Printing has been and is one of the major vehicles of conveying ideas for ages. The first signs of printing in Uganda were witnessed in 1895 when Rev. E. Millar of the Church Missionary Society printed the postage stamps using a typewriter although the stamps did not look stylish as they are today.

In 1923 the Uganda Literary and Scientific Society (Uganda Society) was formed to bring together readers and writers. The Uganda Society started publishing The Uganda Journal in 1934 to disseminate information regarding heritage and development. The Society published various special studies such as Sir Albert Cook’s “Uganda Memories (1897-1940)”. The Uganda Journal earned good reputation throughout Africa and it inspired publication of other such academic journals in other countries. The Society, however, closed during the civil unrest in 1983 until 1994 when it was revived.

During World War II printing in Uganda nearly came to a standstill. The government printer where most printing was done was transferred to England during the war. Printing in Uganda resumed in 1962.

In the early years of independence, Uganda’s entire publishing industry was controlled by the state. The Uganda Publishing House, Uganda Press Trust and Uganda School Supply Ltd, all subsidiaries of Milton Obote Foundation, were created by the state in line with its Move-to-the-Left policies of communism that centralised state authority to manage book work in the country.

After the overthrow of the Obote government in 1971, Uganda School Supplies just like the Uganda Publishing House faced decline.

Throughout the 1970s government funded textbook supplies to primary schools became irregular and generally small scale and only rich schools and rich students could afford to buy directly from the booksellers. This led to significant reductions in the volumes of textbooks in classrooms which ultimately affected pupils’ performance.

This period also witnessed a marked decline in textbook supply to universities resulting in the emergence of the famous ‘yellow notes’ written by professors for their students and turned yellow as a result of overuse and age. When Obote became the president for the second time in 1980, there was another attempt to re-establish the Uganda School Supplies.

When Obote’s second regime fell in July 1985, again the textbook publishing and distribution was affected although it did not fall to the private sector.  State control of textbook distribution, it can be said, destroyed or damaged the existing private sector, publishers, book wholesalers and retailers while not providing a reasonable alternative text book service to schools.

Since late 1990s the publishing and printing sector was tapping into the benefits that came with liberalisation. The economy had been liberalised to allow private players into the sector alongside the public enterprise publishers to add more value to the industry. Today the fruits of this policy are reflected in the over 10 publishing companies and more than 100 printing companies that are engaged in this business.

Nasser Road in Kampala, for example, is home to a myriad of printing firms. Printing and publishing is now the major economic activity carried out on this street. The publishers spread out across the city. Many of the printing firms now have improved from single to 6-colour printing machines. In 1997, most jobs regarding colour printing were done abroad. But today there is less need to cross the borders for the same business since the industry has grown and modernised.

The resultant jobs in the printing and publishing sector have helped in reducing on the unemployment problem that the country faces and helped improve the conditions of living for those employed in the sector.

In 1993 the government, through its textbook policy in schools, allowed private publishers to publish books which it later regulates and recommends for use in schools basing on the set objectives. The policy has resulted in development of a wide variety of textbooks and expansion of local, regional and multinational school book publishing investments in the country. This has broken the National Curriculum Development Centre’s monopoly of publishing books for schools but left it with the task of developing and reviewing the curriculum. For the local publishers it meant levelling the market which multinational publishers had been dominating.

This has been the trend in Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana and Mozambique regarding their printing and publishing industries. Publishing in Uganda over the last ten years has shown remarkable progress. But few local publishers are publishing more titles annually including books and learning charts for pre-school. The same publishers have also developed a network of contact points or own distribution outlets.

The biggest challenge is that government is not providing all school going children in Uganda with books. But even then Uganda’s pupil-textbook ratio is high with the lucky ones having to share a textbook for every three. The government is paying more attention to the schools it supports. If human resource development is to be equitable, it is essential that all children have equal access to reading materials. Secondly, to achieve quality primary education, Government puts emphasis on the policy of putting books in the hands of pupils.

Thirdly, there are delays in procurement of instructional materials caused by late deliveries of materials by publishers and delays in return of local purchase orders by the head-teachers of primary schools and lack of funds for monitoring the purchasing activities at district level.

Some of the factors identified as inhibiting publishing in Uganda are foreign policies, language barrier, economic status, high illiteracy rate, piracy, lack of government support, lack of national policy on book publishing, limited capital, lack of a virile national publishing association, etc.

The opportunities available for book publishing in Uganda include networking with the East African Book Development Council (EABDC), African Publishers Network (APNET), and African Book Collective (ABC) and, increased enrolment of school children under the universal primary and secondary education programmes.

Since 2000 the printers and publishers have introduced colour printing which is an improvement in the industry. Walking into any of the bookstores in the country one is captivated by the glossy and beautiful book covers for all educational levels and those tackling different themes relevant to society. Indeed, the book industry has come a long way from the black and white printing to colour, and from simple machines to sophisticated ones.

Most textbooks supplied to primary schools are by local publishers and the trend is gradually shifting to secondary schools. Since the liberalisation policy was adopted the national book suppliers have grown from two to more than ten. This has been accelerated by enacting the book procurement policy in the ministry of education that decentralised the procurement process. 

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