Sacked UIA boss plots return amid protest
Cleared. Former Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) executive director Jolly Kaguhangire. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA
The former Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) executive director, Ms Jolly Kaguhangire, is on the brink of getting her job back after President Museveni backed her amid protests from new board members and staff.
Sources at UIA told Daily Monitor that Ms Kaguhangire has the “full backing” of the President, some members of the (new and old) board, officials at the Inspectorate of Government and the Born-again fraternity.
After IGG cleared her, sources say, Ms Kaguhangire covertly ran to State House and met the President. She denied all the accusations against her and complained about “witch-hunt” by the former board members, who had accused her of incompetence and corruption.
Although Mr Museveni wants to bring Ms Kaguhangire back to UIA, a section of the new board members as well as UIA staff have vowed to fail her and have dismissed the IGG report that cleared the former ED of any wrongdoing as “conflicted.”
The IGG spokesperson, Ms Munira Ali, asked for the details of the disputed IGG report on UIA and promised to get back to Daily Monitor with the official response later today [Wednesday].
Ms Kaguhangire yesterday opted to “wait and see” how things pan out before commenting on the latest developments.
Mr Emmy Kugonza, the UIA board chairperson, yesterday said he was in a meeting and promised to “get in touch.” However, by press time, there was no response from him.
There was a scheduled closed-door meeting at State House Entebbe to discuss Ms Kaguhangire’s fate. Finance Minister Matia Kasaija and other UIA officials attended the meeting. But by press time yesterday, the meeting was still on-going. It is not clear whether this was the meeting Mr Kugonza was referring to.
Mr Morrison Rwakakamba, who according to sources chaired some of the board meetings that tightened credentials for a substantive ED yesterday, declined to comment on the matter and instead, referred Daily Monitor to Mr Kugonza.
Mr Matia Kasaija and other senior officials in the Ministry of Finance are said to be opposed to Ms Kaguhangire’s return. Those against Ms Kaguhangire fear that her return might turn UIA into a battle ground, arouse instability and impede work at a body mandated to lead job creation in the country.
UIA board is in the processes of recruiting a substantive ED.
Background
In November 2018, UIA board chaired by Mr Emely Kugonza terminated Ms Kaguhangire’s contract with immediate effect. The board’s decision was reached in a special sitting of October 26. Mr Kugonza said the decision was based on findings of an independent investigation that was conducted by a six-member committee into circumstances surrounding allegations against the former executive director.
The board indicted Ms Kaguhangire on all the five grounds and resolved that these amount to gross misconduct in line with Section 9.2.2 of UIA Human Resource policy.
However, last month, the IGG cleared former UIA executive director of gross insubordination, incompetence, concealment, misinformation and lying to the board, defiance and misconduct during interdiction.
Other allegations Ms Kaguhangire was cleared of include illegal recruitment of staff, paying of online media news sites to fabricate stories against some staff and receiving a Shs400b bribe from investors.
She was also accused of diverting funds from UIA for her travels, and sponsoring her husband’s travel to Russia using the authority’s resources. But Ms Mariam Wangadya, in her May 7 report found no evidence to show that Ms Kaguhangire had neither allowed her husband to use UIA facilities nor travel to Russia using company resources.
The former executive director ran to court in 2018 an attempt to block investigations into the allegations of corruption and abuse of office that were brought against her, but she later withdrew the case.
Background
Case. In November 2018, UIA board chaired by Mr Emely Kugonza terminated Ms Kaguhangire’s contract with immediate effect. The board’s decision was reached during a special sitting of October 26. Mr Kugonza said the decision was based on findings of an independent investigation that was conducted by a six-member committee into circumstances surrounding allegations against the former executive director.
The board indicted Ms Kaguhangire on all the five grounds and resolved that these amount to gross misconduct in line with Section 9.2.2 of UIA Human Resource Policy.
Cleared. However, last month, the IGG cleared the former UIA executive director of gross insubordination, incompetence, concealment, misinformation and lying to the board, defiance and misconduct during interdiction.
Other allegations Ms Kaguhangire was cleared of include illegal recruitment of staff, paying of online media news sites to fabricate stories against some staff and receiving a Shs400b bribe from investors.
Accusations. She was also accused of diverting funds from UIA for her travels, and sponsoring her husband’s travel to Russia using the authority’s resources. But Ms Mariam Wangadya, in her May 7 report found no evidence resources.
The former executive director ran to court in 2018 an attempt to block investigations into the allegations of corruption and abuse of office that were brought against her, but she later withdrew the case.
