A treasury bill is a short-term loan you make to the government, repaid with interest at maturity within a year. In Uganda you can buy one directly from UGX 100,000 through the Central Securities Depository, though the...
A treasury bill is a short-term loan you make to the government, repaid with interest at maturity within a year. In Uganda you can buy one directly from UGX 100,000 through the Central Securities Depository, though the practical hurdles are higher than the minimum suggests. It is the purest low-risk instrument available to a Ugandan saver, because the only risk standing behind it is the government itself.
Treasury bills are sold at auction, and the rate the market clears at becomes the reference point for almost everything else your family's money can earn. As Unit Trusts for Family Money records, direct treasury bills were paying roughly 10 to 13 percent depending on tenor across 2025 and 2026, with the 364-day bill clearing at about 12.5 percent in early 2026, down from late-2025 highs. When those auction rates fall, money market fund yields follow the same curve down with a lag, because those funds hold the same paper.
The trade-offs are structural. A treasury bill locks your money to maturity, although a secondary sale is possible. Buying one demands attention at every step: bidding at auction or working through a broker, then deciding again at every rollover. Compare that with a money market unit trust, which holds treasury bills inside it, stays accessible within two to five working days, and handles every rollover for you in exchange for a management fee. The direct bill is the purest instrument; the fund buys convenience, diversification, and liquidity with a slice of the yield.
Savers who discover treasury bills often conclude that the fund is for beginners and the direct bill is the serious choice. Purity is not the same thing as fitness for purpose. Family money that must stay reachable, the emergency floor above all, does not belong in an instrument locked to maturity; the floor's whole job is to be days away when the crisis arrives. And a rollover missed because life got busy leaves money idle, which quietly costs more than the fee it was avoiding. The direct instrument suits money with a known date and an owner willing to manage auctions. It is also a savings tool, never a protection tool: the sequencing in Insurance in the Right Order still comes first.
Sort one pot by date before choosing the instrument. Money needed within days stays in a money market fund. Money with a fixed date about a year out, and an owner who will actually attend to the rollover, can go direct into a treasury bill. Write the choice, the amount, and the maturity date into your family money notes, so the rollover decision has a name and a deadline attached.