President Museveni has dismissed claims that Entebbe International Airport is at risk of confiscation by the Republic of China over an unpaid debt.
Museveni made the remarks while being interviewed by Reuters at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi on Saturday morning.
“I don’t remember mortgaging the airport for anything,” Museveni said.
China issued a Shs1.1trillion loan to Uganda through Exim Bank for the upgrade and expansion of Entebbe International Airport.
However, recently, there have been media reports that the Chinese government is planning to confiscate the airport over failure to pay the loan.
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Both the government of Chine and Uganda have dismissed the reports.
“There is no problem with the debt we have with China, it will be paid,” Museveni said.
Earlier the government of China had dismissed the reports are politically motivated at putting their government in a bad light.
Speaking about the same situation, Wu Jianghao, the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, China wondered why money given by Western countries is considered as assistance for development while that given by China is a debt trap.
“Why is money offered by Western countries to developing countries considered ‘assistance for development, while the money offered by China is labeled as ‘debt trap’? This view is NOT logic or correct!”, Jianghao said.
In a statement in a statement released last month, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) also dismissed the reports as untrue.
“I wish to make it categorically clear that the allegation that Entebbe Airport has been given away for cash is false. The government of Uganda cant give away such a national asset. We have said it before and repeat that it has not happened. There isn’t an ounce of truth in it,”UCAA spokesperson, Vianney Luggya said.
The Minister for Finance, Matia Kasaijja has previously reiterated that the government will not lose a single asset to China.
“China taking over assets? … in Uganda, I have told you, as long as some of us are still in charge, unless there is really a catastrophe, and which I don’t see at all, that will make this economy go behind. So, … I’m not worried about China taking assets. They can do it elsewhere, I don’t know. But here, I don’t think it will come,” Kasaijja said.
