Dr Louis Kasekende, the former Bank of Uganda (BoU) deputy governor, has no chance of bouncing back to that institution as Governor, following the death of Prof. Emmanuel Tumusiime-Mutebile.
Not long ago Kasekende was considered an automatic heir to late Mutebile as Governor.
Having read our exclusive article on the potential replacements for Mutebile, some bankers, economists, policy analysts and politicians called this news website to say Kasekende was an odd man out on the list of the potential individuals that President Museveni could appoint to replace Mutebile at BoU.
Those who see Kasekende as unpalatable to replace Mutebile say the former BoU Deputy Governor and others like former Executive Director Supervision Justine Bagyenda were responsible for the indiscriminate closure of commercial banks in the country from…. to 2016 when Crane Bank Limited (CBL) was summarily closed allegedly for undercapitalization, causing public outcry.
The closure of CBL and other defunct banks like National Bank of Commerce, Teefe Bank, Global Trust Bank Uganda, Cooperative Bank, Greenland Bank Trillions of shillings since some banks have sought court redress, according to those we talked to.
“Kasekende and Bagyenda failed to follow simple processes and guidelines of closing banks. Therefore, Museveni who reads so much will not make a mistake to appoint Kasekende as BoU Governor,” said a retired banker who says Museveni should not rush to appoint but cast his net wide to get the best candidate for the juicy position that became vacant in late January as Mutebile died in Nairobi, Kenya where he had gone for treatment.
The closure of banks became extra sour for Kasekende as he tried in vain to block a forensic audit of the closure of banks by the Auditor General as ordered by Speaker of 10th Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga. ‘Kasekende knew the audit would expose their thuggery and carelessness in closing banks like CBL and National Bank of Commerce that had met capital requirements before it was closed,’ said another banker who had shares in one of the banks closed.
Further, some of Kasekende’s wealth, watchers say stemmed from the closure of banks like CBL where Shs478 billions of taxpayer’s money allegedly spent on CBL in receivership by BOU for liquidity and other purposes has never been fully accounted for. Worse still Kasekende okayed sale of CBL to DFCU at only Shs200 billion. Kasekende’s illicit wealth is hidden in real estate under names of family members. ‘Museveni will be reluctant to appoint Kasekende BOU Governor given such scandals,’ an economist based at Makerere University said, adding that, “Museveni is tired of corrupt officials.”
More so, Kasekende and Bagyenda did not adhere to Museveni’s warning not to rush into closing CBL. He has never forgiven the two who some analysts say were more interested in personal financial gain whereby it gave the two chances to benefit from public coffers money for the so- called liquidity support of CBL in receivership.
Another policy analyst told this news website that Museveni is aware that if he appointed Kasekende BoU boss, it would cause public uproar especially from bankers and MPs especially that the COSASE report of 2020 regarding closure of banks has never had key recommendations implemented by the government. Kasekende’s appointment would mean Museveni is not interested in cleaning BoU.
A related report focusing on working relationships between top bosses in BoU pinned Kasekende for forming a clique opposed to his former boss Mutebile. This led to misunderstandings that led to poor service delivery as some documents on bank closure were hidden from Mutebile. ‘At one time Kasekende thought he would replace Mutebile yet Mutebile was still Museveni’s favorite, ‘ said a senior staffer at BoU.
An investigation into closure of banks showed that Kasekende and others as careless spenders of public money as BOU paid MMAKS almost a billion shillings in legal advice in sale of CBL, yet it had internal lawyers, even though they failed to notice physical assets owned by CBL, notwithstanding that they sold CBL on phone.
Kasekende’s scandals in the sale of banks gives other individuals like Pro. Juma Balunywa, Augustus Nuwagaba, Keith Muhajanizi. NSSF’s Richard Byarugaba and others remain on the list of potential Ugandans to replace the late Mutebile.
