Parliament rejects attempts to block Kazinda quizzing

The deputy Speaker said Rule 64 of the House rules of procedure, which speaks on the matter of sub-judice, only concerns proceedings on the floor of Parliament, not committee discussions.

Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah yesterday rejected legal clarification from Deputy Attorney General, Freddie Ruhindi seeking to block indicted ex-principal accountant Geoffrey Kazinda from appearing before the Public Accounts Committee investigating corruption in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Mr Ruhindi presented a legal argument that Attorney General Peter Nyombi has previously fronted, in the latest government attempt to thwart quizzing by legislators, and cited the rule of sub-judice telling the House that any testimony from the currently incarcerated Kazinda would influence the outcome of an on-going trial.

Mr Oulanyah, however, said Rule 64 of the House Rules of Procedure which speaks on the matter of sub-judice, only concerns proceedings on the floor of Parliament, not committee discussions.

MP Jacob Oboth Oboth reminded Mr Ruhindi that former NSSF boss Chandi Jamwa was one time arraigned before Parliament’s watch dog committee on public accounts to offer testimony despite his trial at the Anti-Corruption Court at the time. He said to bar Mr Kazinda from appearing before PAC would be wrong and added “unless the application of the law is selective against the Japadholas.”

Meanwhile, a top bureaucrat in the Office of the Prime Minister told a closed-door meeting of the Public Accounts Committee that some “crooked” officials wanted to involve her in fraudulent dealings and that when she refused to comply, they started blackmailing her.

Waduwa before PAC
The OPM undersecretary, Ms Flavia Waduwa, told MPs that at one time the Internal Security Organisation interrogated her on how Shs205 million came to her private account yet she was not an implementing officer. She instead deflected all responsibility to Mr Kazinda, the key suspect in the scam involving the theft of billions of shillings in money meant for development projects in northern Uganda.

Sources who attended the meeting told this newspaper that Ms Waduwa told MPs that after she found that millions had been credited to her account she informed Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana who reportedly advised her to take the cash to Mr Kazinda.

Auditor General John Muwanga reported that more than Shs767.6 million was allegedly remitted to personal accounts in error and was later recalled by the accounts staff.
The recipients, including Ms Waduwa, withdrew the funds and are said to have refunded it to Mr Kazinda. Of this money more than Shs430 million was deposited in Ms Waduwa’s personal account.

“When we compared notice we realised that it was wrong. We trusted Mr Kazinda until when he started showing the signs of mistrust,” Ms Waduwa said. When pressed further she added: “I am the one who proposed that I return the money.” She is said to have admitted that there were institutional weaknesses and that Mr Kazinda should have advised her on how to deal with the anomalies.

The Committee heard that on several occasions unsolicited funds kept going to her private bank account and she kept quiet. When asked to explain why, she said that was an anomaly and that there was nothing to add.

The Serere County MP, Ms Alice Alaso, faulted the undersecretary after it emerged that there were four instances where it came to her attention that public money was being siphoned through personal accounts and she did not mention this glitch during top management meetings.

The closed session was requested by Ms Waduwa on claims that she had “useful” and “sensitive” information she wanted to share with the committee in the absence of journalists and other strangers. She had requested for seven minutes but the closed meeting took 30 minutes.

ymugerwa@ug.nationmedia.com