The government of Uganda is working to issue treasury bills as low as Shs 10,000 as a move to promote revenue mobilisation and personal savings as one of the ways to enhance a culture of prioritizing solid financing for development.
The plan was disclosed by Stephen Kasangaki, commissioner for Cash Policy at the min- istry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development. Speaking at the ‘National Consultative Meeting on Financing for Development (FfD4 Commitments) and the Uganda GPEDC Report 2025’ held at Sheraton hotel Kampala on September 11, 2025, Kasangaki said a law is being drafted to come up with such a low figure that will encourage more people to buy treasury bills.
The consultative meeting was co-organised by ActionAid International, Centre for Basic Research (CBR), Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG), National NGO Forum, Oxfam and Uganda Debt Network (UDN), in collaboration with the Office of the Prime Minister.
Participants pledged to turn the noise into a voice of action for the common good of the country. After scrutinizing the Uganda Country Report (2023-2026 Monitoring Round), they stressed four principles that should henceforth guide the relationship between finance providers and finance recipients; namely, country ownership, focus on results, inclusive partnership, and transparency and accountability.
Further resolutions were made regarding evidence-based monitoring, globally comparative indicators, encouragement of mutual learning and policy dialogue, and reforms to guarantee common alignment.
It was noted that resource mobilisation doesn’t have to involve increasing taxes; other options such as trade and savings are available. In addition, the proper utilization of the raised resources must be observed strictly.
Richard Ssewakiryanga, the executive director of Centre for Basic Research and master of ceremonies of the day, presented the country report which, he said, is almost complete for release to the public.
Rather annoyed with the current state of affairs in Uganda, Ssewakiryanga called for an elite consensus to arrest the worsening situation.
“How can people continue to pay taxes when education and health services are going down? Moneylenders are everywhere; people borrow for education and health; big money is dominating politics…. We need an elite consensus on how to deal with each other,” he said.
The meeting also deliberated on how to domesticate Uganda’s commitments pledged at the Compromiso de Sevilla (the Seville Commitment) in Spain in June 2025.
Not to suggest that monitoring for money laundering and anti terrorism financing is bad, this policy has for long been used selectively and taking a toll on foreign currency mobilization and inflow into the economy.
Many individuals have the privilege to team with private investors but when such investment destined funds come to our banks here, under the pretext of compliance requirements such monies where lucky would clear after enough delays, other would be threatened such that ” Kitu Kidogo” is extracted.
This calls for a clear policy that should inform the account owner what amounts to not complying to compliance requirements, how to fix it but not always confiscate or punish account owner before exhausting positive remedies. Such policy of financial regulatory compliance should not be the preserve of the bank and financial intelligence authority alone.
This way bank account owners recipients of foreign currency would be aware, not manipulated and the policy will never be used selectively and in the end the ordinary across the business spectrum will mobilize money for our country’s economy and develop and tax collection would increase even without increasing taxes, which taxes are being paid by only a few.