MPs have capacity and mandate to probe Bank of Uganda

Since the Auditor General released a special audit report on the defunct banks, a number of commentators have come out in various media platforms to attack Parliament. The main argument by sections of the elite is that Parliament has no capacity to investigate Bank of Uganda (BoU) and that the Central Bank is independent.
Let me state from the onset that such arguments are premised on intentional and distracting bias and not good governance principles. In good governance practice, leaders of all categories must be held to account, especially on matters of public nature. Moreover, to those with higher responsibilities, more is needed of them.
BoU is a monetary policy supremo and the superviser of the banking sector in the country. In terms of fulfilling its mandate, BoU is indeed given the legal support to work independently. However, the independence accorded to BoU, does not in any way constitute a shield against accountability. BoU must account. The appointment of the top managers of BoU is a shared responsibility between the head of state (President) and Parliament with the former nominating while the latter vets. So, clearly, no one gets to superintend BoU without being responsible to anyone.
Therefore, those who accuse Parliament must know that BoU actually directly reports to Parliament. You should not accuse Parliament for supervising an entity they are responsible for. BoU officials earn from the taxpayers, not from its independence and whoever earns from the taxpayers must account to them. The question should be: Did Parliament do its job well? The answer is clearly, yes.
Parliament wrote to the Auditor General, who is also an agent of Parliament with all the requisite expertise - to carry out an audit and furnish the Speaker of Parliament with the findings. Parliament was motivated by some suggestions that there is need for government to revive the Cooperative Bank Limited. The MPs felt that before the Cooperative Bank is revived, it is better to find out whether its closure was justified and carried out well. The competent agent to do this for Parliament and by extension the public, is the Auditor General.
It would be extreme dishonesty for anyone to suggest that the Auditor General has no capacity to audit BoU unless one is saying BoU staffers were trained in heaven where God Himself designed the course units and personally tutored them. But God is fair; He must have also shared with Auditor General. The report is now ready and the Committee on State Enterprises and Statutory Agencies’s (Cosase) work is simply to ask BoU officials questions regarding issues raised in the report. That does not amount to undermining the independence of the bank nor interfering with its work. It is an opportunity for the Bank officials to account for their decisions. Politicians must account and bureaucrats too must account. That is when ordinary citizens will receive deserving services.
Broadly, accountability is about asking questions and the answers given must be debated and decisions made. Some people have insinuated that MPs have no capacity to question BoU. To begin with, the leaders of Cosase have the technical knowledge to investigate any agency nationally and internationally. Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu is a lawyer of international repute. The vice chairperson of Cosase and Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among was a banker for 10 years at senior managerial role and also a lecturer at Makerere University Business School (MUBS) and Kampala International University.
The tendency by some experts to think that those in Parliament have no requisite ability to question bureaucrats speaks about intellectual dishonesty. Some elite have tended to behave in a manner suggestive that if something is not from them or by them, then it has no value. Very sad. I would be more interested in voices that demand that Cosase should do a thorough job than the disdainful voices that believe that MP can’t do anything. If no MP can do anything, why do the same elite discuss the report that resulted from Parliament’s demand an audit? Before the MPs asked for the audit, where were all the technical gurus now all over the place undermining the functions of Parliament?
Some have tagged it to the Crane Bank vs BoU saga. But that is being escapist. Parliament ordered for the audit of closed banks and not just Crane Bank. The banks include Teefe Trust Bank, International Credit Bank, Greenland Bank, Global Trust Bank, National Bank of Commerce, Cooperative Bank and lately Crane Bank. Should Parliament not ask BoU questions about defunct banks because Crane Bank is at war with BoU? Should banks simply be closed without anyone understanding why?
There should be no shifting goal posts in our quest for good governance. And worry not; MPs will not seek to determine how BoU makes decisions on its day to day work, but will demand answers to the questions raised in the audit report.

Mr Obore is the director of communication at Parliament. [email protected]