By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Established in 1986 by the Ugandan government after being founded in 1955 as the Uganda Argus, a British colonial government publication, New Vision is set to cough billions or trillions if not lucky for misrepresentation of borrowers’ loans status.
READ ALSO: After Gashumba Saga, Vision Group In Hot Soup Again As Balaam Demands For Shs1B In Defamation Suit
This stems from a story that allegedly appeared in the new vision of 18th March 2021, listing a number of companies that they wrongly stated had gotten bailout cash from the government through the bank (UDB) yet many of the companies listed were borrowers who had running securitized loans got from the bank in the usual normal way of borrowing.
It is alleged that many applied for their loans and had them running many ways back before the corona period. The companies now say it is annoying to portray the normal regular borrowers who are paying their regular loans at the bank’s usual lending rate for long-term borrowing of 14 to 15% to be listed as beneficiaries of a bailout from the government which is actually non-existent.
“If the managers of UDB and Newvision don’t come out quick to retract or correct this story, they are likely to suffer huge lawsuit damages. The story is not only incorrect but puts the bank in a terrible position for violating the borrower’s rights. Any business that will sue will walkway with good court awards,” says the companies.
They add thus; “It is extremely unfair & misleading to portray a business of a borrower who borrowed a loan on bank terms and is working hard in this pandemic constrained business environment to pay the loan with interest and is having his/her security held by the bank, as a beneficiary of a non-existent “bailout” scheme. It’s bogus & annoying. Then UDB should close and not open for business. And the usual lazy Newvision goes ahead to publish this distortion without verification.
