The traders raise several important issues that need to be addressed by the relevant authorities. On inflation, the Governor of the bank of Ugandan was in the news for the wrong reasons. Governor Mutebile looked so naïve, which led me to wonder about his political judgments. How could a governor of the Bank of Uganda only talk about jets as an afterthought? How could the Governor of the Bank of Uganda be so naive to even think that YKM is buying those jets without the support of the USA and UK ? Did the governor even ponder why YKM ok, Uganda is buying those jets? Here is why YKM/Uganda is buying the jets: ABYEI. The West is getting ready through their man in Kampala in case the situation gets worse in Abyei. USA and UK will use Ugandan jets to go after Sudan in Abyei. To see Governor Mutebile talk gafula or ffa like that made me wonder about him.
But here is the big question: by talking about jets and sijui what, was Governor Mutebile shirking his duty to tame what Kampala traders are talking about: inflation? Ugandans want to know the role of BOU in escalating core inflation in the country. And Governor Mutebile has never said a word about his mandate! And what is his mandate or the mandate of BOU? BOU has to ensure
a) price stability (minimal inflation-it cannot be zero),
and b) economic growth.
These are the dual goals of the Central bank. Now that Governor told Ugandans about jets, he should perform his core duty and tell Ugandans more about inflation. What did BOU do about the money supply? Why did a Governor who wants to look otherwise let the government bully him by escalating money supply? Why did not Governor Mutebile say no to excessive money supply which is within his powers? Why is his more concerned about jets-jets bought by USA and UK money-than inflation which is under his watch?
The second issue and here the newly ‘promoted' minister of internal affairs must come out and tell Ugandan how permits are being given out. What is the criterion for issuing resident permits to foreigners? This is important because as the traders point out, foreigners are not supposed to be manning duka in Owino or selling merchandise on the streets. What jobs are such petty traders creating to deserve resident permits?
The third issue is for URA: why is URA demanding taxes in dollars when Uganda 's legal tender is the Ugandan shilling? Both BOU and URA must come clean on their activities. Importers are hit hardest by the deteriorating currency. And on top of that URA taxes them in dollars. Why?
BTW, how does URA treat its cash cow aka the taxpayers? Does URA listen or simply orders? I had a very bad experience with URA. I realized that URA favors European based Ugandans over North American folks.
The issues are certainly weighty and demand the attention of the top officials in the respective departments.
WB Kyijomanyi
No comments:
Post a Comment