I’ll crush exploitative money lenders, says Museveni

President Museveni Thursday afternoon vowed to act against what he described as ‘exploitative money lenders’, accusing them of being an impediment to modernizing Uganda’s economy.

“The government insists we borrow from Uganda Development Bank, Emyooga, etc because the money lenders are our enemies. I'm going to crush the money lenders...they are criminals,” Museveni remarked while commissioning the 600MW Karuma Hydropower Dam at Karuma Cell, Karuma Town Council in Kiryandongo District.

Citing Atiak Sugar Works Ltd in Amuru District, the Ugandan leader noted that entrepreneurs are unable to profit from their businesses due to high costs of borrowing.

“We had to save our girl of Atiak Sugar. She had made a mistake of going to a commercial bank and that project was about to collapse and we had to come in and save her. How do you say somebody have given you money but in the document you say you have bought, yet you only gave them Shgs2 million? We are going to deal with the lenders,” Museveni emphasized.

He added that: “The cost of money in the banks, especially for agriculture and for manufacturing must not be of high interest rates because when high, how would people make profits.”

Besides high costs of borrowing and high electricity costs, Museveni decried persistently high transport costs eating into profits of businesspeople.

“Because of you have got high transport costs, the business will not succeed, and to have low transport costs, you need a railway, it is one of the cheapest forms of transport. That is why you hear that we are repairing the line from Tororo to Gulu to Pakwach, we are working on it now,” he noted.

Monitor has established that government seeks to build a Standard-Gauge Railway (SGR) line from Tororo to South Sudan- and another from Kampala to the DR Congo border, besides the proposed Kampala-Malaba SGR line.

Museveni maintained that cheap electricity is fundamental in boosting industrialization in Uganda.

“If you want a modern economy, you must handle the four sectors as I have told you but in order to modernize this sectors, ensure low costs of electricity. Have cheap reliable and affordable electricity,” Museveni said.

 He admitted that the electricity supply is still insufficient in the country.

“I am part of the happiness which the people are showing, the Karuma electricity is much cheaper than Bujagali Hydropower Dam, and the one of Bujagali was done by some careless people behind my back,” he remarked.

About the dam

The $1.7 billion (Shs6.2 trillion) Karuma Hydropower plant -along the Nile- is expected to generate 600MW. 

While the Ugandan government contributed 15 per cent, or $253 million (920.8 billion), of the project cost, China’s Exim Bank pooled 85 per cent, or $1.4 billion (Shs5.1 trillion), of the project financing.