CSOs urge action over central bank leadership gap

18 December 2024, 6:02 pm

By Annet Nakato

Civil Society Organisations are worried about the safety of our country’s money. They blame the government for not appointing a leader for the central bank in three years.

This concern was raised by the Executive Director of the Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), Julius Mukunda, during the end-of-year press briefing at CSBAG headquarters in Ntinda.

Mukunda emphasised that the central bank plays a crucial role in ensuring that financial institutions, like banks, remain stable and trustworthy. It achieves this by overseeing and regulating these institutions. However, the absence of a governor has created a significant leadership gap, making it difficult to carry out these responsibilities effectively. This gap also hampers efforts to address emerging financial threats, such as cybercrime and operational errors in the banking system.

Mukunda noted that such threats underscore the urgent need for a competent and active central bank governor to restore oversight, enforce regulatory measures, and improve cybersecurity within Uganda’s financial sector.

His comments come in the wake of recent cyberattacks, where unknown individuals reportedly siphoned UGX 62 billion from Bank of Uganda accounts into two international banks.