NDA board’s term draws to close amid intrigue, scandals

As the three year term of office of the Board of Directors of the National Drug Authority (NDA), headed by Dr Medard Bitekyerezo, draws to a close, the team has embarked on a quest to be granted a fresh mandate.

Dr Bitekyerezo, told Sunday Monitor that a report detailing their achievements since they took over office in February 2017 is being compiled, adding that it is now up to the political leadership at the Health ministry and in Parliament to decide their fate.

“The report detailing what has been achieved and what is outstanding is already with the ministry. It is now up to the minister and Cabinet again to either appoint a new board or reappoint us,” he said on Wednesday.

In his maiden speech, Dr Bitekyerezo promised to, among other, things heighten vigilance against counterfeits to protect the lives of Ugandans and their animals, construct a state of the art laboratory and seven regional offices with wonderful storage and mini laboratory facilities.
Asked to rate the performance of this board, Dr Bitekyerezo, was quick to say that it did a great job.

“I think we have done a tremendous job,” he said.

His detractors do not think so. They think it is testimony that it might not be right to appoint failed politicians to head technical institutions. They accuse him of abuse of office and making erratic decision that have caused financial loss and unnecessary litigation. He is also accused of having commandeered one of the Authority’s cars with a driver, who is now reportedly permanently stationed at his home.

Financial losses
He for example ordered the Authority in November 2017 to pay Shs35.4 million to a company, which was not prequalified to provide legal services to NDA.

The payment was to meet the costs of Authority’s former executive director Donna Asiimwe Kusemererwa, lost a suit in both the High Court and Court of Appeal around her recruitment and appointment by the board as executive secretary, a position that does not exist in the Authority.

Dr Bitekyerezo is also alleged to have ordered the payment of Shs47.2 million in terminal benefits to Ms Kusemererwa and used another Shs14.1 million to pay legal fees when he was sued by Kimpi Isabirye, in a matter that did not concern NDA.

Some of those losses were captured in the most recent report by the Auditor General (AU) for dubious expenditures made.

The AG also questioned a raft of other expenditures, including Shs196.9m paid to district assistant drugs inspectors, $42,691 (Shs158m) paid to Contec Airflow, Shs117.6m spent on unplanned procurements, and Shs82m spent above what had been budgeted for procurement.

He is also accused of having directed NDA to leave its own premises and take up rented office space at Rumi Towers. At first, the rationale was that this would pave way for the construction of an ultramodern laboratory at the Authority’s premises on Lumumba Avenue, but that has not happened. NDA continues to pay rent and the old premises are abandoned.

Dr Bitekyerezo denies any wrongdoing and instead blames his woes on Mr Mark Kamanzi, the head of legal services at NDA, who is currently on interdiction.

Rather than address himself to the issues, Dr Bitekyerezo opted to accuse Mr Kamanzi of enlisting the services of the media to witch -hunt him. Mr Kamanzi declined to respond to his comments.

Failed investigations
Most of the accusations against Mr Bitekyerezo have been the subject of petitions to both the Inspectorate of Government (IGG) and Parliament. The IGG was petitioned in two different letters; one dated May 18, 2018, but stamped as received on March 23 and one of March 15, which was stamped as received on the same day. The IGG’s office has for some reason not caused and investigation.

It was not possible to talk to Ms Munira Ali, the head of public relations at the IGG’s office, but this newspaper established that Parliament’s Committee on Health investigated NDA. It was also not possible to engage the committee’s chairperson, Dr Michael Bukenya, but one of the members, Mr Fred Baseke, said investigations were complete.

“We have a draft. Once the festivities are over, we shall finalise work and hand it (report) to the Speaker,” Mr Baseke said on Friday.

Bloated board
With 19 members, the board of directors of NDA is perhaps the biggest in Uganda, but the biggest talking points has been the composition, which brings about issues around potential conflict of interest.

It for example has representatives from the National Medical Stores and Mulago National Referral Hospital, which are some of the institutions it is meant to regulate.

Would the staff of NDA be able to investigate any matter at any of those institutions? The director of CIID is also a member of the Board. Would her personnel objectively investigate a matter at NDA?

Health minister Jane Ruth Aceng said police’s presence on the board was aimed at giving the board some expertise in the field of narcotics, but concedes the board is too big.

“We are still working to have the numbers on the NDA board reduced to maybe nine people as a best practice. A big board means that one spends much more on its maintenance,” she said.

She added that Cabinet is working on repealing the NDA Act and have it replaced with the National Food and Medicine Authority 2017, which she said will happen as soon as Cabinet is done with the Bills that are being worked upon.

But will a new law fix the rot at NDA?, that is the question to ponder about.

Drug scandals

Four major drug scandals have occurred in Uganda in the last two years. The first was the announcement in March 2018 that falsified hepatitis B vaccines were on the market, only for the vaccines to be later declared harmless.

In August, it was announced that 190,000 doses of “fake” fortivax (inactivated foot and mouth vaccine) worth Shs1.09b was supplied to the Ministry of Agriculture, but the Pirbright Institute, a research institute in Surrey, England, tested the drug and fount it genuine.

Last month NDA directed Marie Stopes Uganda to recall two batches of Life Guard condoms on grounds that they were rolled out before being tested in the NDA laboratories.

The extent of the damage that could have been caused to the public in terms of unwanted pregnancies and infections of HIV/Aids remains unknown, but with UNAIDS putting the number of people living with HIV at 1.4 million and an average annual death at 23,000 Ugandans per year as of 2018, there is real cause for worry.

Early this month, NDA recalled 14 different types of drugs, mostly pain killers, injectable antibiotics and some used for controlling postpartum haemorrhage (excessive bleeding after child delivery) amid concerns about their quality. That sparked off fears for the health of those who had used them.

When asked whether such scandals would cast doubts on its ability to regulate the sector, the Secretary of NDA, Dr David Nahamya, seemed to suggest that such developments were quite normal.

“It is a normal thing (recalling drugs) in regulation. There is nothing new. It is the reason we are there,” he said.

Dr Nahamya believes public “should be applauding”, but the shadow minister of Health, Mr Julius Ocen, thinks the Authority is facing “internal weaknesses”.

“Politically, NDA has challenges, which emanate from the President and the minister. That makes it impossible for them to perform. The wrong people are appointed to work in such places. The scandals are testimony of that,” Mr Ocen, who is also the Kapelebyong County MP, said.