Bank of Uganda Deputy Governor Dr Louis Kasekende is like a drowning man clutching at a straw in trying to save his job.
Kasekende’s contract expires on Monday and he has been unsuccessful in getting President Yoweri Museveni to renew it.
Late last year, Kasekende tried to seek a meeting with President Museveni over his contract renewal in vain and he beseeched Finance Minister Matia Kasaija to plead his case before the head of state.
Despite having received Kasaija’s letter, Museveni is yet to respond and Kasaija asked Kasekende to provide a dossier justifying why he should be reappointed.
The first order of business this year was for Kasekende to submit the dossier to Kasaija.
“As requested, the submitted dossier is a justification for my contract renewal as the Deputy Governor of Bank of Uganda, which expires on the 13th January, 2020,” the covering letter of Kasekende’s dossier to Kasaija titled “Contract Renewal” reads in part. The document was submitted on January 3.
As Kasekende races against time, the matter of renewing Kasekende’s contract is the least of President Museveni’s worries and his deafening silence perhaps explains Kasekende’s fate. Museveni is currently trekking the Luwero triangle, more engrossed in retracing the path of the five-year guerilla war that brought him to power 34 years ago.
“Did the President give a deadline to respond? He will respond in his own time,” Senior Presidential press Secretary Don Wanyama told online news outlet Watchdog when asked about why President Museveni is yet to respond to Kasaija’s letter on Kasekende’s fate.
Meanwhile, Kasekende is hoping against hope and he told CEO Magazine, “My current contract ends on Janaury 14, 2020. Appointment or renewal of the contract is the prerogative of the appointing authority.”
Cleansing BoU?
BoU’s credibility score in the eyes of the general public has greatly reduced over the past two years, emanating from a series of scandals.
Parliament’s 2019 probe into the closure and sale of seven commercial banks pointed to possible collusion, and corruption among BoU officials and beneficiaries of the bank takeovers, the most recent being Dfcu’s takeover of Crane Bank.
On the heels of that was cash cargo plane scandal where a plane chartered to fly newly printed currency notes into the country arrived with more pallets with speculation being that BoU officials had gone rogue and started printing extra cash for their private gain.
State House’s Anti-Corruption unit swung into action and arrested several bank officials. The matter was later “downplayed” as it was revealed that the extra pallets on the plane belonged to MTN Chairman Charles Mbiire, Umar Mandela of Javas and Mandela Millers and the UN.
While what was contained in those pallets has never seen the light of day, BoU was castigated for flying extra cargo on a plane solely chartered to transport newly printed currency.
Coupled with all that, BoU staff had developed factions, with some loyal to Governor Tumusiime Mutebile, while others paid their allegiance to his deputy Kasekende.
With all these scandals, there have been cries by MPs and the general public to cleanse Bank of Uganda through relieving some officials of their duties.
The opportunity might have presented itself in the technicality of contract expiry. If Kasekende’s contract isn’t renewed, that will be one man out and Governor Mutebile’s contract has just one year to expire. What is bad for Kasekende is that he had been fancying himself as the next governor, but now he stares at the exit door.