Reproduced from Uganda’s Daily Monitor with permission
By Ismail Musa Ladu, Kampala
The Ugandan government has finally started to cede control of Libyan . . .[restrict]investments to the transitional authority in Tripoli, months after the UN Security Council lifted sanctions against Libya and its investments abroad.
Although the Bank of Uganda governor, Emmanuel Mutebile, could not explain why the return of Tropical Bank, the first among a series of investment, is being returned to the majority shareholders – Libyan Foreign Bank, months after lifting the sanction in December, he said unlike other investments in the country, Tropical Bank grew stronger under the central bank control.
Done a good job
“After taking over the control of the bank in March following a UN Security Council freeze on the Libyan assets, including the Libyan Foreign bank, we have done a good job – made more profits,” Mr Mutebile said, before emphasising that even before the sanction, Tropical Bank was already in good shape.
With Tropical Bank handed back to the Libyans with ownership of 99.69 per cent stake, it means the government will no longer manages the affair of the bank, which explains why the former managers, including the board has to be reinstated.
Meanwhile, unlike Tropical Bank that kept above the tide without help from the parent company, Uganda Telecom (Utl) one of the group’s investment had to soldier on the hard way amidst a serious cash stress.
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