Probe finances at all missions - MPs

A section of Members of Parliament (MPs) are demanding a full-blown probe into financial management at all Uganda’s missions abroad.

The calls come in the wake of a decision on Monday by authorities in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recall staff at Uganda’s mission in Denmark, who were implicated in a scheme to embezzle unspent cash from Financial Year 2019/2020, which should have been returned to the Consolidated Fund.

Section 17(2) of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), 2005 stipulates: “A vote that does not expend money appropriated to it for the financial year shall at the close of the financial year, repay the money to the Consolidated Fund.”

The decision to recall the diplomats follows the publication by Daily Monitor on Monday, of a story based on an audio clip that captured diplomats at the mission holding a zoom meeting and discussing how to steal the funds.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Patrick Mugoya, indicated that the Ministry had embarked on investigations into the alleged fraud.

“The ministry wishes to express grave concern about the allegations contained in the article [in Daily Monitor of August 24] and takes this matter seriously. The ministry, in consultation with the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to Treasury and the Auditor General, will carry out a thorough investigation into the matter,” the statement reads in parts.

READ: Audio clip reveals cash scam at Uganda embassy

However, MPs who talked to Sunday Monitor during the course of the week are demanding that the investigation be cast wider to cover all Uganda’s missions abroad.
The Bukonjo West MP (FDC), Mr Atkins Katusabe, who is also the Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, said it would be foolhardy to confine the probe to what happened in only Denmark.

“This is not an isolated incident. Poor financial management and fraud cut across. I have for some time now been calling for a forensic audit of all missions, but my calls were ignored,” he said.
Kawempe North MP, Abdulatif Sebaggala, who is also a member of the committee on Foreign Affairs, backed the call by Mr Katusabe.

“Denmark is simply an eye opener, but those people were just unlucky that the audio leaked and went viral. Otherwise, it is clear that abuse of funds is going on at every mission,”’ he said.
The voice in the audio clip on which Daily Monitor based to write its story on Monday admitted to having abused finances and bribed auditor while stationed at the mission in Switzerland.

“When I was in Switzerland, they asked officers who had gone back to Kampala to pay, but since I was the accounting officer, I wanted to protect my former colleagues. I discussed with the auditor, the head of mission was also was concurring with me. So twamulabamu (bribed him) as a mission. Twamulabamu nabidropping (We bribed him and he dropped the matter)” the voice said.
The admission lends credence to Mr Sebaggala’s and Mr Katusabe’s belief that the rot is much wider and requires forensic audits at all the missions.

The chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Hood Katuramu, said his committee intends to carry out an independent probe into what happened in Denmark and the goings-on in other missions.
Mr Katuramu, who is also the MP for Persons Living with Disabilities (PWDs) in western Uganda, told Sunday Monitor that this committee will not be lenient with fraudsters.

“Anybody who violates financial regulations must be brought to book. We cannot cover up. Never! If we have recalled people (Diplomats) over other matters, some of which might have been deemed private in nature, what about those found to have dabbled in financial impropriety?” Mr Katuramu asked.

If the recalled staff are found culpable, they will be liable for reprimands, demotion, suspension or dismissal. They can also be compelled to refund stolen cash. However, Kole County South MP (Ind), Mr Peter Ocen, expressed skepticism whether the suspects will be subjected to any disciplinary process or even punished if they are found culpable.

“Those people should have by now been subjected to criminal prosecution, but you wait and see... They will even be rewarded,” Mr Ocen said.

Poor supervision
Mr Sebaggala said one of the things fueling what he described as widespread abuses at the foreign missions has been poor supervision.

By press time, it was not possible to talk to officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Calls to the State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Henry Oryem Okello, and to the Permanent Secretary, Mr Patrick Mugoya, were neither answered nor returned. They also did not respond to our text messages.

However, Mr Sebaggala told us that whereas the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a desk that should ordinarily be monitoring the goings-on at the missions and those of Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs they are hampered by lack of funds.

“The ministry is not adequately funded to carry out impromptu visits to those missions to know what is going on there. Even our committee sometimes takes up to two years without visiting the missions to establish what is going on there. The funds are never available,” Mr Sebaggala said.

Badly dented image
Mr Katusabe argued that the scandal at the embassy in Denmark had left Uganda’s image and that of its diplomacy in tatters. Matters, he said, are not helped by the poor shape in which most of the missions’ premises are.

“Some of our Foreign Service staff have been put to a lot of shame. Imagine your neighbors saying that you should leave the neighborhood because your embassy building is a source of rats, snakes and all manner of vermin. The staff and the premises are a source and brand of shame,” Mr Katusabe said.

Worst scandal?
Whereas this has been the first time in the history of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that a whopping seven officers have been recalled over allegations of fraud, there is debate on whether the Denmark fiasco is the biggest scandal to have rocked Uganda’s diplomatic missions.

Mr Ocen argues that the worst scandal that has rocked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the one in which President Museveni and Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Sam Kuteesa, were alleged to have received $1million (Shs3.6b) in bribes.

In December 2018, a US court convicted former Home Affairs minister of Hong Kong, Mr Patrick Ho Chi Ping, on charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. He had stood trial for allegedly offering bribes worth millions of dollars to several African leaders, including the presidents of Uganda and that of Chad, in order to secure support for Shanghai-based CEFC China Energy.

Ho was convicted for offering a $500,000 bribe to President Museveni, $500,000 to Uganda Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa and $2 million to Chad’s President Idriss Deby.

ALSO READ: Uganda recalls top embassy staff in Denmark

The alleged total $1m bribe to Mr Museveni and Mr Kutesa was reported to have been given to secure business dealings in railway services, infrastructure construction, fishing, hydro-energy, banking and finance as well as tourism.

“All of them are very bad scenarios, but the one involving the President and Mr Kuteesa is the worst to have happened to Uganda,” Mr Ocen said.
Following Ho’s conviction, President Museveni directed Mr Kuteesa to explain to the Attorney General what his role was in the matter. The explanation has never been made public.

Response

“The ministry wishes to express grave concern about the allegations contained in the article [in Daily Monitor of August 24] and takes this matter seriously. The ministry, in consultation with the Permanent Secretary/Secretary to Treasury and the Auditor General, will carry out a thorough investigation into the matter,” Statement from Foreign Affairs ministry

Audio clip

“When I was in Switzerland, they asked officers who had gone back to Kampala to pay, but since I was the accounting officer, I wanted to protect my former colleagues. I discussed with the auditor, the head of mission was also was concurring with me. So twamulabamu (bribed him) as a mission. Twamulabamu nabidropping (We bribed him and he dropped the matter),” the voice in the audio clip on which Daily Monitor based its story

What they say...

Hood Katuramu, chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs
“Anybody who violates financial regulations must be brought to book. We cannot cover up. Never! If we have recalled people (Diplomats) over other matters, some of which might have been deemed private in nature, what about those found to have dabbled in financial impropriety?”

Godfrey Katusabe (FDC), Bukonzo West MP
“This is not an isolated incident. Poor financial management and fraud cut across. I have for some time now been calling for a forensic audit of all missions, but my calls were ignored.”

Abdulatif Sebaggala, Kawempe North MP
“Denmark is simply an eye opener, but those people were just unlucky that the audio leaked and went viral. Otherwise, it is clear that abuse of funds is going on at every mission.”