KAMPALA – Kalungu West Member of Parliament, Joseph Ssewungu has raised concern about the delayed appointment of the Central Bank Governor.
Ssewungu raised the issue during the plenary session on Wednesday – recounting how for more than a year – the Central Bank had operated without a substantive Governor – the legally Chief Executive Officer and the Board of Directors chair of the same institution.
The Governor is mandated to promote monetary policies and processes, ensure that regulated firms are financially sound and safely managed, convene and preside over the meetings of the bank’s board of directors and supervise the bank’s staff.
The Bank of Uganda Act stipulates that the governor and his Deputy shall be appointed by the President with approval from the cabinet.
The last person to hold the position was Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, who, however, passed on last year after holding the position since 2001. A year after his demise, MP Ssewungu demanded that the President needed to be reminded of the absence of a Governor.
In response to MP Ssewungu’s query, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa said that the leadership of Parliament had engaged President Yoweri Museveni about the Central Bank Governor’s appointment and he hinted that he was still thinking about it.
According to Tayebwa, the issue was brought to the attention of the President during a meeting with the leadership of parliament and he promised to take action.
But Ssewungu insisted that the President is further reminded since the position of Governor was a key in the country’s economy and needed to be filled soon. Tayebwa assured Ssewungu that the President would be reminded about the issue.
A source too close to State House – earlier in the week disclosed to this reporter how the President had finalised the appointment of the new Governor – although no particular name was readily attached to the talk.
Some of the personalities that have been mentioned to replace Mutebile include Michael Atingi-Ego, the Deputy Governor, who has been at the helm of the institution since the former Governor’s death.
The others mentioned include, former Deputy Governor Dr Louis Kasekende; Makerere University Business School – MUBS Principal, Wasswa Balunywa; Makerere University Chancellor-Dr Ezra Suruma; Adam Mugume – the Director of Research and Policy at the Bank of Uganda and others.
