MTN plans to lockout stolen money from buying shares
What you need to know:
- According to Mr Mbire, If you open up carelessly, you will be attracting money launderers from outside instead of rewarding hard earned workers in Uganda. The plan, he said, is to Ugandanise MTN for honest Ugandans.”
Kampala. MTN has said it could align the localisation of the company to entities such as pension funds, nurses, teachers and war veterans’ Saccos, among others, to lockout people using stolen or laundered money to buy into the telecom.
Speaking in an interview yesterday, Mr Charles Mbire, the MTN chairman, told Daily Monitor the telecom has started a process that will enable Ugandans to own a share of one of the country’s most profitable company.
However, he said, it will be carefully done to avoid rewarding ‘thieves’ that would “bring in stolen money to contaminate the company”.
“I think we should reward people who have toiled for their money. I am talking about people in pension funds, nurses and teachers who I will trust their sources of money. I would also encourage war veterans and causalities,” he said, noting that if the process is not carefully planned, “you will end up getting stolen money” to buy into the telecom.
Under the National Broadband Policy, all telecoms are required to list locally to enable Ugandans own a part of the country’s most profitable multinationals.
Mr Mbire emphasised that as a company, their intention is to localise through different avenues part of which include listing on the Uganda Securities Exchange.
“We have commissioned studies to see how best it can be done. Some people rush into this and end up in problems,” he said.
Recently, Mr Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN chief executive officer, told Daily Monitor that they were looking at different avenue such as listing through which they would allow Ugandans to buy into the company.
This gels well with Mr Mbire’s argument, who said he would encourage Ugandans with hard-earned money to buy into MTN.
Honest Ugandans
According to Mr Mbire, If you open up carelessly, you will be attracting money launderers from outside instead of rewarding hard earned workers in Uganda. The plan, he said, is to Ugandanise MTN for honest Ugandans.”
