Uganda’s central bank whose governor has been always quoted saying that the nation would not be affected by the global financial crisis, is finally feeling the pinch of the global financial crisis. The bank has bought up much of the remaining dollars available on the market pushing the dollar currency against the shilling to its highest in over six years.

At a time when the dollar is hard to get, even the little existing for trade on the market has been scrapped by the giant central bank. The entire market is now in panic as economists warn of increased job cuts, increase in cost of goods and services, a fall in foreign remittances. In otherwords, tougher times ahead with absolutely no silver lining.

What is the most surprising is that the central bank is supposed to be the building housing the best economic brains in the land to plan for a brighter financial future for the entire nation. It is beyond reason to even ask, why did these bright economists not see any of this coming? Why did they not read the warning signs pasted all over the world predicting the hard economic situation ahead and warn the nation?

The current economic panic gripping the nation is certainly yet to mean anything to so many people. It is unfortunate that the governor is yet to come out and explain the situation to the nation or on ways on how to cope right now. I will not be surprised if he never comes out to educate the public but instead leave it upon politicians to who would not hesistate to use as an opportunity to further point out the failures of the museveni regime.

The panic shown by the dollar-strapped central bank is typical of how Ugandans react to situations. We typically bury our heads in the sand with full knowledge that a calamity is coming our way and hope that it does not get to us. Financial crisis signs have been everywhere; on television, newspapers, financial markets, Internet and the tax body but the governor ignored all this everytime. Floods have been predicted for next month but no government measure to stop them or offer relief services has been put in place. We are playing the hoping and waiting game until hell breaks loose!

Now that we finally know that we are facing a bleak financial future, lets unite together with the rest of the world, find and implement strategies towards eliminating being blown away by the financial crisis.