By Zawadi Nanyonga,
KAMPALA
The Democratic Party (DP) has expressed skepticism over the appointment of Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego as the new Governor of the Bank of Uganda (BoU) and Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba as the new Deputy Governor, citing ongoing financial challenges at the central bank.
Speaking to journalists Yon Tuesday, DP Acting Spokesperson Ismail Kiirya raised concerns about Ating-Ego’s ability to address the deep financial struggles facing BoU.
“BOU had just lost 60B shillings in just seconds and upto now the bank has not recovered them and it doesn’t have hopes of recovering them which puts the bank’s Cyber security at test,” Kiirya stated.
DP also pointed to the continued depreciation of the Ugandan shilling, which he says worsens the economy . He stressed that Ugandan shilling has weakened to levels below the Tanzanian shilling and is now struggling to compete with the South Sudanese pound, despite South Sudan being a newly independent nation.
Kiirya questioned whether Dr. Atingi-Ego, who had been serving in an acting capacity, has the ability to steer the central bank out of its current challenges.
“This is one of the reasons why, as the Democratic Party, we doubt whether Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego has the capacity to solve these problems, especially since most of them occurred under his watch while serving as Acting Governor,” he added.
Yesterday, (Monday 10th February, 2025) president Museveni appointed Micheal Ating-Ego as the governor of BoU replacing Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile who died on January 23, 2022, in Nairobi Kenya, at the age of 72, ending three years of absence of the Central Bank governor in Uganda. He was successfully vetted by parliament together with his deputy earlier today.
