Gov’t plans to borrow Sh1Tn from WB – Onek tells Parliament

The Minister for Relief and Disaster Preparedness Eng. Hillary Onek has told Parliament that Government has plans to borrow $280m (Over Sh1Tn) from the World Bank to help in supporting the refugees living in Uganda.

“We are negotiating with the World Bank for more money, to be exact $280m to go again to the refugee hosting districts this time around, to enforce most of the things we have done and in the next project we shall expand to cover transit districts for refugees such as Bundibugyo, Amuru, Kisoro and Kitgum;  The initiative is targeting to ensure that the service there meets the demand of the population present and the one coming,” explained Onek.

Uganda is the leading refugee host in Africa with over 1.5 million refugees and close to 35,000 asylum seekers coming from mainly the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan among others.

The Minister however did not explain whether the current atmosphere between the Government and the World Bank caused by the passing of the anti-homosexuality bill by Parliament which President Museveni later signed and became a law would pause a stumbling block in accessing the funds.

This comes just days after the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda Michael Antingi-Engo warned Government to reduce its ‘huge appetite’ for borrowing; the public debt is close Sh90Tn.