Like a drug addict, government keeps going back for a new loan ‘high’

Uganda inches toward a debt crisis as its budget breaches the fiscal responsibility charter, mirroring Kenya’s rising debt.

Photo credit: Joe Nyagah | Nation Media Group

There is never a dull moment in Kampala and Uganda at large. After being bombarded with electoral jargon which recently left the masses uttering democratic technological terms like “Biometric voter verification kits,” we have already shifted gears to imbibing economic legalese with the “charter of fiscal responsibility” setting the pace.

Few of us even knew the existence of such a solemn covenant. Uganda’s charter apparently binds the government to never allow the public debt to grow beyond fifty percent of the gross domestic product.