With more pressure piling on it over its reported plan to dish out tax payers’ money to local companies distressed by debts, government has come out with clarification on how this plan will be implemented.
Ever since the a list came to the open last week of companies set to benefit from the 1.3 trillion shillings plan, different explanations have been given by the relevant government officials, while others denied knowledge of the plan.
State House on Tuesday evening clarified on how this plan will be implemented, and vehemently dismissed suggestions that the companies will be receiving free money from government in what had come to be known as the “bailout” plan.
Senior Presidential Press Secretary Don Wanyama, in a press statement clarified that three groups of business people will benefit from the plan.
The first group he said entails Ugandan businessmen who were doing business with the government of South Sudan but never got paid because of the turmoil there.
Several of these supplied resources to the newly formulated government from 2012 but after war broke out in 2013, these were not paid for their goods and services to this date.
Wanyama says these will be helped by government, with a projection that once the government of South Sudan stabilizes in the future, this money will be recovered.
The second group entails businessmen who supplied goods and services to government but haven’t been paid.
President Yoweri Museveni while addressing government ministers and permanent secretaries on Tuesday at NALI in Kyankwanzi urged all ministries and departments to prioritize payment of arrears for goods and services acquired from private companies.
The President wondered how some of these government departments proceed to procure these goods when they don’t have the money to pay for them.
The funds for this group have already been released by the Finance Ministry in the first quarter of the year.
The third and last group according to Wanyama is what has been making the news with the so-called bailout.
“This group largely borrowed money from banks for their businesses. Most have perhaps failed to service their loans,” he clarified.
“They say banks are taking their property and their businesses collapsing. Several accuse banks of breaching terms of the loans. For this group, government is not offering money. I repeat, there’s no monetary support from government. What government is willing to do is offer to be umpires of sorts between them and the banks.
Wanyama says the role of government will be to try and see if they can still engage with banks without the dire consequences of their businesses collapsing. But government is offering no financial reprieve for these.