Agriculture officials refund Shs400m
The IGG Beti Kamya has given thumps up to Monitor journalism
What you need to know:
- This publication was not able to establish why the officials are still employed in the Agriculture ministry despite being found guilty by the IGG.
Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture have started refunding part of the Shs9b meant for the construction of two agricultural schools during the Covid-19 lockdown.
In an interview with the Monitor on Tuesday, the spokesperson of the Inspectorate of Government (IG), Ms Munira Ali, said 14 of the 15 officials, who were found guilty of misusing the funds by the IG, have so far refunded five percent of the money as per the agreement made between them and the IGG last month.
“The one who hasn’t paid will be dealt with according to the law but we believe that they will honour the agreement and pay before we take other action as indicated in the agreement,” Ms Munira said.
This publication was not able to establish why the officials are still employed in the Agriculture ministry despite being found guilty by the IGG.
Efforts to get a comment on the matter from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Maj Gen David Kasura Kyomukama, were futile as he did not answer our repeated phone calls and messages by press time.
However, the ministry’s public relations manager, Ms Charlotte Kemigyisha, said they are yet to receive the IGG’s resolutions.
“If and when the ministry receives communication from the IGG, the ministry’s leadership will take the appropriate action,” Ms Kemigyisha said in an email sent to this newspaper.
While addressing journalists last month, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Olive Kamya, said the inspectorate’s investigators had established that during the Financial Year 2020/2021, the ministry’s technocrats transferred Shs10.2b to Bukalasa Agricultural College (BAC) and Fisheries Training Institute (FTI) at different times.
The terms of the agreement, which was signed by all 15 officials, include, among others, payment of all the money misappropriated within 28 months from the date of signing the agreement, suspects to deposit securities with the IGG until full payment, and each of the 15 officials to make an initial deposit of five percent within 30 days of the agreement.
However, the IGG noted that recovery of the funds in use doesn’t waive the IG’s power to recommend further administrative actions such as warning, dismissal, demotion or retirement in public interest against the culpable persons.
Ms Kamya noted that the IG reserves the powers and rights to pursue the matter criminally or administratively against any person that shall breach all or any other terms of the agreement.
Investigators told journalists that there was connivance where the heads of the agricultural institutions initiated fictitious budgets and sent them to the technocrats at the ministry who would then pay and share the money among themselves.
During the same media briefing, the director in charge of legal affairs, Ms Sarah Birungi Kalibbala, said the officials used the stolen money to buy land in prime areas and constructed houses.
She said the IGG has since put a caveat on these properties until the officials pay back the money.
