Newly-appointed BoU Governor, Mr Michael Atingi-Ego (R) shakes hands with his deputy, Mr Augustus Nuwagaba (L) at Parliament ahead of their vetting by Parliament's appointment Committee on February 11, 2025. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
President Museveni has appointed Mr Michael Atingi-Ego as the new Bank of Uganda (BoU) Governor, and appointed Mr Augustus Nuwagaba as the Deputy Governor.
“The Presidential Press Unit wishes to inform the public that, in the exercise of the powers vested in the President by Article 161(2) and (3)(a) of the 1995 Constitution, Mr Ating-Ego has been appointed as the new Governor, and Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba has been appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Bank of Uganda, a Presidential Press Unit (PPU) statement released yesterday read.
The two are now expected to appear before Parliament’s committee on appointments before they can take office.
This comes at a time when the Central Bank is facing issues of fraud and cybercrime. Just last week, eight officials from the Ministry of Finance were arrested and charged with corruption, electronic fraud and money laundering involving loss of over Shs60b.
However, Julius Mukunda, the executive director of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group, says Mr Ating-Ego has done a commendable job at handling the scandal and the bank, adding that it has given confidence to the people that he can actually do better.
“The team that has been appointed is the best that we could have. Prof Nuwagaba has been leading development and transformation. We lacked such a person to take our economy forward. Mr Atingi-Ego has been working alone, but doing a good job,” he said.
Mr Mukunda says as civil society, they have confidence that the government will not dip its hands in the coffers when the officials are watching.
He said the team comes in office at the time when the country’s debt burden is high, the government is depending on borrowed money to fund its activities, and commercial banks are closing due to mismanagement and unsound financial decisions.
This calls for extreme vigilance of the officials, including starting a cooperative bank or agriculture bank as well as getting a better way of containing inflation as opposed to the old methods they have been using which hurt the people.
Mr John Kakungulu Walugembe, the executive director of Federation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises - Uganda, says President Museveni gave Mr Atingi-Ego enough time to get used to the office, the policies and the dynamics at the Central Bank, while he served as acting governor.
He says Atingi-Ego has served well, contained inflation, and ensured macro-economic stability for the three years he has been acting governor.
He adds that the choice of Mr Nuwagaba was a great one, given that he has been in academia and private sector.
“Mr Nuwagaba will bring in the perspective of the private sector, which will be good,” he says.
However, one of the economists warned that Mr Nuwagaba’s good performance in the private sector may not necessarily mean great work at the Central Bank.
He says Nuwagaba will have the uphill task of turning the academic knowledge into practical policies that will steer the economy to greater heights.
