GOVERNMENT GIVES KIIRA MOTORS 144 BILLION TO MAKE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

By Moses Sserwanga

The Uganda Cabinet has approved the commercialisation of the Kiira Electric Vehicle Project where government will invest Ugs.144billion in a phased approach , Minister of Science Technology and Innovation Dr. Elioda Tumwesigye has said.

While addressing the media in Kampala , Dr. Tumwesigye said that Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC) will assemble vehicles including electric ones in partnership with reputable vehicle manufacturers . “This  should progressively position the Kiira Vehicle plant for growth prospects in cutting-edge vehicle technology innovation ,” he stated.

Tumwesigye added:  “ this  landmark Cabinet decision builds upon the work started at Makerere University with support from the Presidential Initiative for Science and Technology Innovation to champion value addition in the domestic automotive industry for job creation and diversification of the economy.”

The decision was informed by a comprehensive appraisal and approval of the feasibility study for setting up and operating the Kiira Vehicle Plant by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.

During the four year start up phase, (2018/19-2021/22), the government will give Kiira shs. 143.7bn. The Kiira Vehicle Plant facility shall be set up at the Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) Jinja industrial and Business park.  The funding will also help Kiira Motors Corporation to enter into partnership agreements that will lead to the assemble of vehicles this year.

Cabinet also mandated the Ministry of Science a, Technology and innovation   to provide policy guidelines and oversight for the implementation of the project .  “This is an opportunity for us to realize our vision of making vehicles in Uganda. We are grateful to the president, cabinet, and government for trusting us. We want to encourage the private sector to start looking at investment opportunities in the automotive value chain,” says Paul Isaac Musasizi, the Kiira Motors CEO.

 How Ugandans Will Benefit

As Uganda moves  to put locally made cars on the market for the first time by end of this year ,,many Ugandans are wondering how they  could benefit from a budding automotive industry when it finally takes off.

Automotive experts have intimated that  cars just like any other locally manufactured products will have many components or parts that should ideally be sourced locally  and therefore  offer huge economic benefits to the local parts fabrication suppliers . At least on average , a car has over 30,000 parts by the time  it leaves the  production line and this will not be any different when Kiira Motors Corporation (KMC)’s  much anticipated Vehicle Production Plant is set up in Jinja . 

While major  car makers  the world over ,  source car  parts from a broad range of global automotive suppliers overseas , in Uganda with the availability of abundant natural raw materials for   car production  , enterprising  Ugandans  should be prepared  to cash  in on the economic opportunities that will be created across the country’s nascent automotive industry .

This is because the country is endowed with a variety of rich minerals that are key to the successful implementation of the car manufacturing sector .Among the minerals that are abundant across  the country include ,copper and cobalt deposits in the border district of Kasese, gold in the areas of Mbarara, Kabale,  Kisoro, Rukungiri,Kanungu ,Busia , MubendeHoima and parts of West Nile ,Iron ore in Mityana and lead in Kamwenge .

Other raw materials needed for car manufacturing like lithium  can be found in Kabale, Mukono, Mbale and Mubende; tin,  zinc, kaolin , glass and sand are all locally available. The challenge will be how the government will facilitate the business minded Ugandans to benefit from these natural resources across the automotive value chain .

There is  no doubt that promotion of local automotive value chain enterprises  will be a very important government  intervention that will lead to the  creation of  jobs and spread wealth among a wide section of the population which presently is unemployed . Car body builders, vehicle canopies for pick-ups, fiber glass components manufacturers , leather seats makers ,after sells car service providers like  garages , fuel stations should all prepare to seize and benefit from the economic opportunities that will come with the development of the automotive sector .

Dr. Tumwesigye said that the assembly plant will initially employ 900 people but in the long run 2,000 direct jobs and 12,000 indirect jobs will be created.

Vehicles Made in Uganda

KMC championing green mobility in Uganda and Africa

For the last 10 years , Kiira Motors Corporation  has also been at the forefront of  championing  green mobility technologies in Uganda and on the African continent producing the  first electric solar bus, the Kayoola Solar Bus in 2016 that won the company international accolades . KMC engineers led by Prof . Sandy Steven Tockodri the KMC Executive Chairman and Mr. Paul Isaac Musasizi , the Chief Executive Office (CEO) , have also produced the Kiira Electric Vehicle (EV) SMACK hybrid in 2014 and the Kiira EV in 2011.

ENDS

UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY’S MOVE TO OBTAIN PEOPLE’S BANK ACCOUNTS DATA IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

UGANDA REVENUE AUTHORITY’S  MOVE TO OBTAIN

PEOPLE’S BANK ACCOUNTS DATA IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

BY MOSES SSERWANGA

The Uganda Bankers Association has come out strongly and rightly so to reject machinations by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to obtain private information of the banks’ customers data for taxation purposes.

At least 30 commercial banks have since petitioned the Constitution Court to declare section 42 of the Tax Procedures Act 2014 under  which URA issued the notice to obtain banks’ clients data , unconstitutional. For starters , the Uganda Constitution in article 27 provides for the unfettered right to privacy of personal information including but not limited to the unauthorized disclosure of personal identity information and photographs .

Although parliament is yet to enact an enabling law about personal data protection including the right to privacy of an individual’s photographs , it is an internationally accepted legal principle that banks owe  a fiduciary duty to their clients irrespective of their standing in society . This is the same duty that applies to a doctor and lawyer to clients relationship. The fiduciary relationship is premised on the internationally established understanding  that whatever information comes in the possession of the said professionals in course of their professional duty about their clients is treated as being confidential and cannot be passed on to third parties without the express permission of the affected individual or by court order in criminal and civil cases.

This same principle is encapsulated in the Bank of Uganda Consumer Protection  Guidelines 2011 which among others compel commercial banks to treat their customers fairly and reasonably by not being aggressive , humiliating and or  intimidating .

Therefore , URA’s attempts to compel banks to disclose their clients banking information was in total contravention of the constitution,   banking law and principle as we have come to know them. It should also be noted that Uganda is a signatory to the East African legal framework on the protection of personal information and the cyber laws which was put in place in 2010.

Banks are not at liberty to disclose without court order and if they go ahead to release personal data of their clients they do so in breach of trust and confidentiality and can be sued for specific and general damages .

This same procedure applies to the notorious practice of banks running full page notices where they publish photographs of  people who have defaulted on loans in national newspapers.  This practice is not only humiliating to the  affected  individuals whose photographs are put in the public domination and therefore exposed to third parties but it is also fundamentally flawed and illegal.

The loan contract is between the bank and the individual or entity to which the loan is extended .  That contract is never intended for the knowledge of third parties even when there is a breach by either party .  The banking law and civil procedures accord banks many legal channels through which they can recover a loan from a defaulting customer without breaching their right to privacy .

The banks can do so by either foreclosing a mortgage or  through court processes where they can obtain court orders for specific cases .  In decided cases courts have stated that there is nothing immoral if an individual failed to repay a loan due to circumstances beyond their control and that the practice of exhibiting a photograph of a person and shamming them in public for the sin of being in an impecunious condition cannot be encouraged in civilized societies.

Banks also have a duty to adequately inform and  educate their clientele about the implications of taking out loans especially salaried loans which are pegged on an individual’s “guarantee” to remain in employment . The practice by banks now is that once such an individual loses their job the loan balances automatically fall due . The question then is , how can such a person who has lost their job automatically pay up for their loan balances ? This is the same problem that brought the USA economy to its knees in the mid 2000s.

The aggressive marketing of loans has dire ramifications for the banks , their clients and  the wellbeing of the national economy . Banks being in a superior position must at all times act judiciously.

The  writer is Media and Communications Consultant /Trainer

And Advocate of  the High Court of Uganda

msserwanga@yahoo.com