BoU Governor, Mutebile says: "I have no beef with my deputy"

Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, the governor of Bank of Uganda, has assured the public that the central bank is being well managed and that he is on good terms with his deputy, Dr Louis Kasekende.

In a statement released today, Mutebile said the recent negative media reports about the bank's performance and internal management should be treated with contempt.

In particular, Mutebile took exception to a lengthy news report in The Independent newsmagazine which alleged that he does not see eye to eye with Kasekende.

The Independent news article said over the years, Kasekende had appointed loyalists to key positions in BoU in anticipation that he will replace Mutebile.

In effect, the article noted, there emerged two camps at BoU, one loyal to Kasekende and another to Mutebile.

Mutebile said the news article should be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

"I continue to count on the confidence and support of my deputy and all other members of the board of directors, executive directors and staff. Yet again this type of unfounded speculation betrays a misunderstanding of how the BoU is actually managed," he wrote.

The governor also said the bank is under sound management.

"There have been claims that BoU or its management is guilty of incompetence and is no longer up to the task of executing its constitutional mandate. If we are to objectively judge the competence of BoU we should look at how it has performed in relation to tis core strategic objectives," Mutebile writes.

He notes that over the last three years, core inflation has averaged 5.1%, which is "good macroeconomic management."

Mutebile also points out that the central bank has done its supervisory role of commercial banks commendably including closing two banks that were not performing well.