Mutebile roots for corporate governance

By Samuel Sanya

THE Bank of Uganda governor, Emmanuel Mutebile, has called for improvement in corporate governance for the country to meet growth targets.

“I want to emphasise that good corporate governance is critical to the health of the business sector, our financial system and indeed, the wider economy,” he said during the Institute of Corporate Governance of Uganda (ICGU) dinner at the Kampala Serena Hotel recently.

“Our economy will be stronger if corporate decisions are made with competence and integrity, and if shareholders and the public can appropriately assess the profitability and riskiness of corporations’ business activities,” Mutebile added.

Uganda’s economy is projected to grow by 6.5% this financial year from 5.8% in 2012/13 in the backdrop of government infrastructure spending.

With a population growing at an average 4% annually, the World Bank says the Ugandan economy needs to add 10 million jobs by 2020 by transiting from low productivity subsistence agriculture to manufacturing and services provision.

The report adds that the shift in employment to more productive sectors will create equitable growth.

Mutebile says growth will also be buoyed by more nonexecutive and independent directors on company boards to curb abuse of corporate governance and to enforce compliance.

Sam Owor, the ICGU chief executive officer, noted that there are only 80 corporate and 480 individual members of the institute, which shows that corporate governance is not yet fully appreciated in Uganda.

“Leadership in public or private organisations is all about trust. Failure to embrace good corporate governance principles is a statement that the organisation does not subscribe to the values of transparency, accountability, equity and ethical behaviour,” Owori said.

Joseph Baliddawa, the ICGU president, noted that corporate governance is vital to achieving strong financial results. 

Mutebile handed special awards to former ICGU presidents Pius Bahemuka and Leo Kibirango.