UMEME: Why are we rushing to the bankers’ table when Ugandans are holding the chequebook?

The UMEME buyout isn’t just a transaction. It’s a test. Of vision. Of sovereignty. Of whether we believe in our people enough to let them own the infrastructure they depend on.

COMMENT | APOLLO BUREGYEYA | The government wants to re-acquire UMEME. Price tag: UGX 700 billion. Financing plan? A loan from a commercial bank. But wait — just days ago, Ugandans voluntarily lined up to lend over sh1 trillion to the state in a treasury bond auction. It was oversubscribed!

So why bypass the people?

Commercial bank loans are like payday advances — short-term, high-interest, and unforgiving. Treasury bonds, on the other hand, are “patient capital”. Long tenors. Predictable rates. No midnight calls from the bank manager.

When government borrows from a bank, entrepreneurs get squeezed. Credit dries up. Interest rates spike. The private sector chokes. But when government issues bonds, the people get a stake in the state. Pension funds, insurance firms, SACCOs, even the boda guy with a savings account — they all get a piece of the action.

And let’s talk transparency.

Bank loans are brokered behind curtains. Treasury bonds? Auctioned in public. Regulated by Bank of Uganda. Scrutinized by Parliament. No shadowy handshakes, no fine print in font size 5.

When government borrows from a bank, entrepreneurs get squeezed. Credit dries up. Interest rates spike. The private sector chokes.

Also, let’s not pretend forex risk is a footnote. That bank loan is in dollars. If the shilling sneezes, the repayment figure balloons.

Bonds? Denominated in Uganda Shillings. Homegrown. Immune to Wall Street’s coughs.

And here’s the kicker: every bond payment goes back to Ugandans. Interest becomes school fees, capital, rent, lunch money. It circulates within. That’s economic patriotism.

So why feed a single bank when the whole country is ready to invest?

The UMEME buyout isn’t just a transaction. It’s a test. Of vision. Of sovereignty. Of whether we believe in our people enough to let them own the infrastructure they depend on.

Ugandans are not just consumers of electricity. They can be co-investors in the grid.

Let me even drink more coffee.

*****

The writer is an engineer, entrepreneur and industrialist. THIS COMMENT WAS ADAPTED FROM X @ApolloBuregyeya