Africa-Press – Uganda. The Uganda Bankers Association has asked government to establish a medium term recovery of $300m (Shs1.08 trillion) to help private schools prepare for the scheduled reopening in January 2022.
Mr Wilbrod Humphreys Owor, the executive director of the association, yesterday told the Parliamentary Committee on Education that the fund — once approved — can put private school proprietors on safer ground in the post pandemic period.
Mr Owor revealed that the loan portfolio for private schools is nearly Shs2 trillion. He added that Shs557b of that total was extended to schools, Shs594b for teachers and Shs600b for commercial buildings like hostels. Accrued interest from the loans stands at Shs126b.
“We have put together a proposal, a copy of which we have forwarded to Members of Parliament [and] Ministry of Finance,” he said, adding that a timeframe of eight to 15 years “gives [the schools] breathing space to recover.”
He added: “It would operate under Bank of Uganda, meaning that all the financial institutions can have access to it and by extension those borrowing customers as well as the administrators to run and manage the fund well. We believe this particular sector needs it,” he said.
Hopeful
Mr Owor said other proposals include waivers on early repayment fee clauses, penalties in their loan clauses, accruing interest on unpaid interest among others. These will be for the next 12 months.
“The burden of loans and Covid is not only for financial institutions. We cannot carry the entire cost of non-performing loans because of Covid. It is too much and unfair. Let me be very categorical now: it is not financial institutions that created Covid,” Mr Owor said.
The call from the banking association follows a recent request by private sector players that government sets up a relief fund of at least Shs500b to enable the smooth reopening of schools next January.
Government is yet to respond to the plea. In August, Finance minister Matia Kasaija advised owners of private schools to sell off their property and pay off bank loans. Mr Owor yesterday called the counsel “unfortunate.”
“We didn’t like it because we are not in the business of selling schools. Ours is to facilitate credit so that institutions expand. We think that we should focus on recovery measures for those schools so that they pay back the loans,” he said.
He added: “But even when we sell, even the buyer who gets it will still find the loan running. So it does not solve the problem. By selling schools, we don’t realise the actual value that we lent out because the property values are down in the trenches and overtaken interest.”
