BoU officials kicked out of COSASE meeting

Parliament

Lawmakers on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) committee on Monday kicked out Bank of Uganda officials led by the deputy governor, Dr Louis Kasekende for appearing without a letter from the accounting officer.

The officials had appeared before MPs led by Mr Mubarak Munyagwa (FDC, Kawempe South) to respond to outstanding Auditor General’s queries and accusations from the committee that due to lack of a statutory accounting officer, BoU officials have for years been executing their duties with impunity.
The deputy Governor tried to defend BoU but the lack of documentary evidence complicated matters. The MPs rejected his submission and kicked him out of the committee together with other officials from BoU. The MPs have ordered BoU officials to bring a letter from the Secretary to Treasury, Mr Keith Muhakanizi and the sections of the law that appoints the governor as the accounting officer.
Although Article 161 of the 1995 Constitution vests the authority of the Bank of Uganda in a board which consists of the governor, the deputy governor and not more than five other members, the MPs said it is not clear on who should be the accounting officer.

Section 10 of BoU Act however, makes the board responsible for the general management of the affairs of the bank; ensure the functioning of the bank and the implementation of its functions; formulate the policies of the bank; do anything required to be done by the bank under this Act; and do anything that is within, or incidental to, the functions of the bank.

Asked why his committee ejected Mr Kasekende’s team from the meeting, Mr Munyagwa said he cannot be part of the Katemba (drama) of postmortem and insisted that public institutions must be run with proper accountability channels.

“I found something in Cosase which I don’t believe in; most of the statutory agencies have people who use authority with impunity because they don’t have any letter appointing them as accounting officers. For instance, Bank of Uganda doesn’t have an accounting officer,” he said.

“The Governor is the chairman of the board that supervises him and his vice is the vice chairman of the board. After making profits, Kasekende told us that they deduct 25 percent and agree how to spend the money. They do anything they want without being questioned.”

He added: “If BoU makes a profit of Shs10 trillion, Mutebile and Kasekende are free to take Shs2.5 trillion and share the money without anybody questioning them on accountability even if taxpayers’ money is isused. I cannot be part of that Katemba [drama] of postmortem. If there is a person who gave them a leeway to eat, let them tell us instead of wasting time.”

Providing details on Mr Kasekende’s demeanor, Mr Munyagwa and other member accused the deputy governor of disrespecting the committee.

“Already, Kasekende was talking to us with arrogance knowing there is nothing we can do to him. Even if we found evidence of abuse of public funds, he will not accept to be apprehended, he will tell us that he is not the accounting officer for Bank of Uganda, he is vice chairman board. Even Mutebile will tell you the same thing; that he is chairman board and not the accounting officer,” said Mr Munyagwa.

“We have summoned Secretary to the Treasury Mr Muhakanizi who has the mandate to appoint accounting officers to tell us who is the accounting officer for Bank of Uganda. We asked Bank of Uganda officials to answer the question and they were fumbling. That’s why we decided to send them away”.

Explaining the cause of apprehension in the committee, Mr Munyagwa told reporters at Parliament that the previous Auditor General’s reports on Bank of Uganda are consistent and accused BoU officials of acting with impunity. “Whenever Auditor General raises a query this year, BoU officials repeat the same the following year,” Mr Munyagwa said.

A committee of Parliament called for governance reforms at the Central Bank after finding flaws in the way it handled the liquidation and sale of insolvent banks. Although the report has not been implemented, this particular matter was not part of the Abdul Katuntu report, the MPs in some cases questioned conflict of interest in the handling of some transactions.