President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has launched Salaam Bank, Uganda’s first ever licensed Islamic Banking institution.
Islamic banking is a form of banking based on Islamic principles. Basically, in Islamic banking it is not allowed to pay and receive interest but rather it is based on profit sharing. Islamic banks focus on generating returns on investments through investment tools that are “Sharia” compliant.
The President launched the bank during Ramathan dua prayers organised by the Office of the National Chairman-NRM at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
Speaking during the event, President Museveni wished the Muslims a fruitful Ramathan and prayed that God protects them.
He also reiterated his call to believers to make sure that they take part in income-generating activities to improve their livelihoods.
“Where I come from in Ntungamo, we don’t entertain laziness. As a norm on that side, every person must have what he/she does like rearing animals, growing crops, fishing, manufacturing and artisanship. Therefore, when I got an opportunity to lead Uganda, I started to encourage you to fight poverty and create wealth,” he said.
“We said there are four ways through which a person can fight poverty. The first sector is commercial agriculture, then manufacturing, the third sector is services like transport, hotels, among others and finally ICT.”
He however noted that all those avenues need capital that is why the government has been coming up with several interventions like Entandikwa, NAADS, Operation Wealth Creation, Emyooga and Parish Development Model (PDM) to enable Ugandans get the necessary start-up capital.
“These were in the form of grants, and it had nothing to do with riba (interest). The riba issue came into place recently when we launched the Parish Development Model.”
He however assured Muslims that in the near future he will have a meeting with their leaders so that they discuss PDM and riba and how Muslims can benefit from the program without any limitations.
“If you convince me that the PDM and Emyooga money has some contradictions as per the Islamic teachings, then I will find a way how I send your money direct to this bank.”
President Museveni further said as the NRM, they don’t believe in discrimination, and they serve all Ugandans equally irrespective of their religions or tribes. He said such attribution has enabled the country to develop socially and economically.
“When Amin left, those of Lule dislodged Uganda from the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) saying that the majority of Ugandans are not Muslims but when we took overpower, we readmitted the country back to OIC. I told them that some of my people are Muslims so they must belong to such an organisation and it was also not a taboo to belong to OIC even if you are not a Muslim. We believe in politics of interest not identity,” he said.
“When the Islamic University in Uganda was beginning, some people were against it. I said no, leave it to operate. Now, it has produced so many graduates of different professions including non-Muslims. When they told me about Islamic banking, I told them I have no problem with it.—NRM
