The Deputy Press Secretary to the President of Uganda, Faruk Kirunda has refuted reports that President Yoweri Museveni has appointed a new governor of the Bank of Uganda.
On Saturday, social media was awash with reports that Museveni had appointed former Prime Minister, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi governor.
The reports, according to Kirunda, are false and should be treated with all the contempt they deserve.
“It is not true that H.E the President has appointed a new Governor, BOU. In case such an appointment is made, the public will be informed through official channels,” Kirunda wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
The position has been vacant since the death of the former Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile in January this year.
The governor is the chief executive officer and the chairman of the board of directors of the Bank of Uganda.
Under the Bank of Uganda (BOU) Act, the governor is appointed by the President in consultation with Cabinet.
He or she is the chief monetary, fiscal and economic advisor to the government, responsible for introducing several policies like monetary policy, inflation targeting and many others.
The Governor earns more than Shs54m per month.
Part IV of the Bank of Uganda Act 2000 states: “There shall be a governor who shall be a person of recognised financial or banking experience and shall be appointed by the President on the advice of the Cabinet.”
Reports earlier indicated that the delay to appoint new governor caused a leadership Clcrisis has hit the Central bank of Uganda.
The UG Standard, a local online publication, this month reported that the Deputy Governor Michael Atingi-Ego has reportedly failed to stamp his authority on the institution which has been running under the leadership of the late Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, an economist with a no-holds-barred approach to handling the task and administrative functions of the Central Bank.
Quoting unnamed sources, the publication, reported that Dr. Atingi-Ego, the Deputy Governor lacks crowning abilities including personal courage and leadership skills to head the country’s economic revival from a thread of economic downturns including the Covid-19 tragedy.
The reforms, he has for example implemented to curb down the inflation are among the weakness he is accused of.
These among others include increasing the Central Bank Rate (CBR) to 8.5% up from 6.5% where it had stalled since 2018, without knowing that the current inflation is Cot pull bot Demand Pull as reducing money in circulation creates more public cries.
Dr. Atingi-Ego has defended his measures saying the increase was necessary to stabilise inflation but industry experts and borrowers have since hit back at the Central Bank—describing BoU inflation containment measures as jeopardising the already disastrous environment especially for small businesses.