The Secretary to Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi is appealing to the media to use the same effort dedicated to scrutinizing public debt to also look into personal debt, saying some Ugandans are even borrowing to hold weddings, wondering if the brides are used as collateral in such types of loans.
“I see there is so much interest in the debate on public debt because debt isn’t a very good thing. But also, there is something interesting in Uganda, the individuals who fear the public debt are indebted personally to the murrow .”
“I want you as the media, as you interrogate public debt, help us with corporate and personal debt. Let Ugandans be concerned about personal debt as much as they are concerned about public debt. Because at least public debt has so many people questioning it,” says Ggoobi.
He notes that Uganda is also in a personal and business debt crisis where almost every business is highly indebted, says Ggoobi, while reacting to widespread concern of the ever growing public debt, raising questions over the quality of leadership that the country is under.
“We need to also be mindful of personal debt. There are so many types of debts in Uganda, personal loans, kwanjula loans, and wedding loans. How can you borrow for a wedding? What is the collateral? Is it the bride? How will you pay back?”
“Are you going to earn from the wedding? From the marriage? Because actually, the outcome of the wedding is more expenditure. You find someone is so stressed because they borrowed for the wedding,” adds Gggobi.