President Museveni has described Muhakanizi among the unsung heroes for Uganda's economic recovery when he together with other economists espoused a 10-point set of bitter-pill measures that the World Bank and IMF had begun to prescribe to cash-hungry distressed economies in the early 1980s.
The measures helped Uganda's economy recover.
"Muhakanizi was part of the group(of economists) including Mutebile(former BoU) and Kassami(former Finance PS) that when we came from the bush, we found them here in the Ministry of Finance. Those young economists belonged to the thinking of the IMF and the World bank. They believed in this strategy. We from the bush were aware of what they were talking about but had a deeper target," Museveni said.
The president was speaking during the memorial service for deceased Office of the Prime Minister Permanent Secretary, Keith Muhakanizi at Kololo independence grounds on Saturday.
Muhakanizi, 64, who was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in 2018 lost the battle to bone cancer last week in Milan, Italy.
Speaking on Saturday, the president said Muhakanizi and his group were so instrumental in controlling inflation which in turn helped the economy recover.
"The therapy of these people we found here after the bush war was to control inflation because if you don't, the economy will not stabilize and economic actors will not have a predictable environment. I was also persuaded by their advice to let the shilling find its level by floating and let all other prices to be controlled by the market," Museveni added.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He said by allowing market forces of demand and supply control prices and exchange rate greatly helped in shaping the recovery of the Ugandan economy which was down prior to the early 1990s.
Museveni said Muhakanizi and his group of economists also advised him against the minimum wage with a view it would undermine the growth of the economy like Uganda that has excess manpower compared to the jobs.
"I was persuaded by that line and that's how I have been able to resist the pressure of the labour unions to artificially put out the price of labour even when we don't have enough jobs to give them. So definitely, their group contributed to our recovery, but we can do more if they also listen to our advice of structural changes," he said.
According to Museveni, it is through their contribution that the economy to grow from 1.5 billion dollars in 1986 to now 50 billion dollars.
He however tasked the current Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance and other economists to build on the foundation by Muhakanizi and his group to grow the economy further.
"I appeal to you; I want this economy to grow from 50 billion dollars to 500 billion dollars and we can do it. Why? Because we already have the raw materials like coffee, maize etc. If we add value to many of these raw materials the economy can jump from the present level to a high middle-income economy of about 500 billion dollars."
Muhakanizi will be laid to rest later today, Sunday in Lyantonde District.
