The Youth Power Research Uganda and Makerere University Economic Students Forum have asked President Yoweri Museveni to eliminate what they have termed ‘kawukumi’ from Bank of Uganda.
According to a press statement they issued on Monday, the two youthful groups want Museveni to clean house at the central bank they accuse of causing the country’s economic woes. Ben Sebuguzi is the leader of Youth Power Research Uganda that has made headlines in the recent months with their work on encouraging economic progress in the country.
Below is their press release
PRESS RELEASE
Dear Ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you at this venue, Makerere University, the ivory tower of intellectualism.
Many times, students have been left out on matters that affect them and the country at large yet they are also great stakeholders who can be affected socially, economically and politically.
On 8th May,2015,the governor Bank of Uganda(BoU), Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile travelled to South Africa when he was ill for treatment, Accordingly, his deputy, Dr. Lious Kasekende assumed the role of the Governor of the Central Bank, During that time, the economy went into recession as the foreign currency appreciated against the shillings as the speculators took centre stage to control the money market against the wish of BoU, but also, inflation went into a double digit figure in just a very short span of less than 2 months when Dr. Kasekende was at the top of the helm. This exposed the central bank to be so precarious as the institution was built around one person, Mr. Mutebile, where by his mere absence creates shocks in the economy.
This also exposed how BoU does not have coherent structures, strategies and manpower that are supposed to support and stabilize the economy. As of now, you can see how the prices of commodities like fuel have escalated as a result of the Central bank weaknesses in steering the economy which at the end has led to the shutdown of many companies as a result of high operation costs hence youths becoming unemployed.
Nevertheless, BoU officials started precipitating the sale of some banks such as Global Trust Bank, Crane Bank, NBC among others using crooked, twisted, misshapen and deformed means for selfish gains as stated in the recent Auditor General report.
We therefore like to join our fellow youths under their platform, Youth Power Research Uganda to request H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museven to continue cleaning the Central bank and remove “kawukumi” (bad apples) like you did with police because at the end of the day it is us the students who have to look for jobs from investors when we finish school.
We do not like to see any investor being devastated by public officials.
We aspire to promote an economic prosperous country where investors are at liberty to excel in a free market economy that promotes a transparent entrepreneurship ecosystem.
We therefore appeal to BoU to compensate all our investors who have suffered as a result of your inequities.
Dr.Sudhir Rupaleria of Rupaleria Group is known for having kick started the forex bureau market in Uganda in 1980s from scratch, at a time when the country was getting refreshed by the liberators with some pockets of instability that would not guarantee business progress. It is this Forex bureau that gave birth to one of the leading indigenous banks (Crane Bank) that was artificially disrupted by bank of Uganda bad people.
Such kind of investor like Sudhir needs to be taken in high regard with all due respect accorded to him because when we mention about the products of the 1996 economic liberalization reforms, he is a champion who needs to be handled in the manner that shows that we appreciate where we have come from and we know where we are destined. We therefore condemn treating our investors like outcasts.
Last but not least, we want to take this opportunity to thank the Parliament of Uganda under the COSASE committee for the good gesture you have exhibited after the recent release of the Auditor General’s report that pins BoU for unceremoniously closing our banks by summoning all those officials of BoU to answer queries as per the report in order to restore economic sanity in our country. Investors hard earned income should not be mishandled by any more public officials again.
We thank you for attending.
Makerere University Economic Students Forum (MUESF) in collaboration with Youth Power Research Uganda.
Nuwabiine Brian,
Team Leader Makerere University Economic Students Forum (MUESF)
