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Costly war may be justified � Kiggundu
BEYOND MY PROBLEMS: Dr. Kiggundu says the country is moving in the wrong direction
Dr. Suleiman Kiggundu, former Greenland Bank, boss, has joined political opposition. In a recent interview, Asuman Bisiika sounded him on his political future. Below are the excerpts:
Question: Sometime back, you threatened to join opposi
tion politics if the government did not ease the pressure it was putting on you. Recently, you were quoted in the press talking politics. Are you carrying out your threat?
Answer: My incarceration was political. I said if I cannot resolve my personal problems with the government, I would join politics. But, it is now beyond my problems, it has now taken a national dimension. The country is moving in a wrong direction. Poverty is rising as if it is an official policy to impoverish people. Corruption is at its peak. State governance is deteriorating, judging from the recent statement by the President against the Judiciary. The rule of law is threatened. These are some of the things that force somebody to say now i s the time to speak out. When the state has lost its way, act boldly and speak. That is a good for Ugandans who love their country.
Are you gearing up for presidency come 2006?
No.
What role can you play in a multi-party political system?
In 1980, we anticipated that Obote would rig the elections. We, (Prof. Senteza Kajubi, Prof. Kanyerezi, Joyce Mpanga and I) urged Dr. Ssemogerere (DP) and Yoweri Museveni (UPM), to work together. We told them they would have the political support and some military competence that Obote would respect, but they did not heed to our plea. Now the President is manipulating the population and Parliament. Chances are that he is going to be adamant. There are people in the opposition saying if it means taking up arms to defend their rights, they will do so. The role we want to play is to ensure that the present regime can be removed without resorting to arms.
From what moral high ground do you advise political organisation s to form a coalition?
I�m not advising. I�m really participating and I want to be part of the leadership. People should work together irrespective of moral ground.
Have you been in active politics before?
After Museveni went to the bush, I went into exile. I was in Nairobi with Prof. Yusuf Lule, Prof. Kanyerezi and Sam Njuba, among others. We worked with the National Resistance Movement (NRM) External Wing with Matthew Rukikaire as our chairman.
Which is a bit ironical. You said the war was expensive, but you were part of the war.
Under Obote, that was the only route. Obote had seized power by rigging elections. People had no option, but to go to war. And I am hearing voices that if Museveni entrenches himself in power unconstitutionally or through rigging elections, people will do the same. I think we need to avoid that scenario. But an expensive war may be justified.
Active politics come with challenges, are you ready to be beaten by the pol ice?
When they see Ugandans en-masse, I don�t expect them to behave like that. The opposition should organise strongly so that the Police sees danger in beating them. In Jinja, the Police allowed the meeting to proceed. Before then, they wouldn�t even allow politicians to go to weddings.
But are you personally ready for the beatings?
Yes, basically in calling for the opposition to unite as a force, yes.
What really went wrong with Greenland Bank?
We have told the country about what happened. I have said the closure of Greenland Bank was political. The bank was successful. We had five branches operating well. We had a bank in Tanzania operating well and a forex bureau in Nairobi. In strength, we were number three at the time. Then we organised the purchase of Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB), which we termed purchase cum loan. We bought 49% of UCB for $14m through Westmont. So, when Westmont paid the money and took over the management of UCB, we were the re al owners of UCB. To protect our funds, we structured the arrangement as a loan although we (and the government), knew that it was a purchase. The reason for the closure of Greenland Bank was that they did not want us to own UCB. But the deal had been done. So, the government had to do something. They decided to close the bank, reasoning that if they closed it, we could not claim ownership of the 49%.
The government was just intervening to prevent Greenland from owning UCB.
What is surprising is that after closing the bank, they arrested me on the same day and charged me for, among other things, lending money to Westmont. The case is still dragging on.
You said the government knew about Greenland Bank�s purchase of UCB. Do you mean the Cabinet or a committee of the Cabinet sat and took a decision?
I have no doubt that the closure of Greenland was political because a bank that was strong enough to buy UCB would not be described as weak. We had 49% in UCB shar es. And you should know that at that time, UCB had about sh78b free money in the World Bank as its assets.
You said Museveni had a hand in the closure of Greenland Bank. What grudge would he have with his former Central Bank governor?
I said the closure of the bank was political. I suspect that either the president in his own wisdom or through the advice of others thought our growth and influence would threaten the president�s power. I know that the Central Bank did not take the decision to close Greenland Bank. That decision was taken in State House.
Greenland invested heavily in non-banking areas. There was a problem of mixing banking and industry. Was that one of the problems of the bank?
No. If that were the case, those investments would not be functional now. But the best way to develop a country is to join the strength of financial resources with assets of enterprises.
There were accusations that you were linked to ADF rebels. So... (interje ction)
The intelligence created that story. They said I was dealing with Tourabi. The truth is that there were no links between me or Greenland Bank and Sudan. These intelligence fellows used the fact that we had a Sudanese called Jarnabi as one of the shareholders in Greenland Bank.
There is a group called the Boston Mafia associated with you. They are Joseph Okello, former Chairman of Kenya�s Export Promotions Council; Dr. Rashid, former Central Bank Governor of Tanzania and Alfred Kalisa, MD of a bank in Rwanda. Are you mafias?
No, we are not mafias. We are a group of African alumni of Boston University.Published on: Wednesday, 28th July, 2004
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