Chinese money lender, Export-Import Bank of China, also known as the EXIM Bank, has reportedly taken over some of Uganda’s critical assets such as the Ugandan Entebbe International Airport and other relevant infrastructural assets over failure to repay a loan taken by the government, as reported by Sahara Reporters. ayokinews.com
Despite the President Yoweri Museveni’s delegation sent to China for a renegotiation over toxic clauses in the loan agreement which kept the country in danger, the Chinese Exim Bank still overruled by taking over the country’s main assets.
It was learned that the Ugandan government on Tuesday, 17th November, 2015, signed a loan agreement of $207 million with the Chinese Exim Bank, at a two per cent upon disbursement.
The loan which had a maturity age of 20 years and also a 7-years grace period, now vividly appears that Uganda surrendered its most valuable and treasured asset to the Chinese lender, Exim Bank.
Some provisions which exposed the Entebbe International Airport and other treasured Ugandan assets in the Financing Agreement signed with China, was revealed by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), upon negotiation in Beijing, China.
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The Museveni’s led government further sought to alter the loan agreement by sending a delegation to China, but the moved was actively declined.
Last week, Uganda’s Finance Minister, Matia Kasaija, apologized to the country’s parliament over the mismanagement and “mishandling of the $207 million loan” taken from the China Exim Bank to expand the Entebbe International Airport.
The progress of the expansion work in the airport which was built in 1972, was said to have reached a 75.2 per cent, with two runways having reached an overall completion of 100 per cent.
The Entebbe International Airport is Uganda’s only international airport and has a passenger rate of 1.9million annually. The seizure of the airport by China would greatly tarnish the reputation and legacy of the 77-years-old President Yoweri Museveni, who came to power on through the military uprising in 1986, and also expose him to a political defeat.
