Uganda Probe Committees in light of the recent BoU 1.4 Billion Payment to Private Lawyers.
It is modest, in my opinion, to be appalled at how the BoU has been operating, according to the revelation by the COSASE Committee through Daily Monitor Media House (Daily Monitor) 20/09/2017 in the ref. Article “BoU under probe over Shs1.4 billion payment to private lawyers”.
One asks, does this kind of involvement fall within their (BoU’s) mandate? The other issue that is intriguing is the length of time this has been going on. The proceedings indicate that BoU has been involved in hiring Private Law Firms as early as 2013, which begs a question, has the COSASE Committee just learned of this issue.
What mechanisms exist to thwart illicit operations by government bodies or even statutory Institutions before it is too late? Would it not be more reasonable for this committee (COSASE) to swiftly control the financial resource bleeding/ Hemorrhage before losing a lot of money? What about the Auditor General's reports, should not they have pointed to this irregularity timely? In addition, where is the IGGs role in all this? What will become of the recommendations of the committee? The COSASE committee recommended that the Presidential Handshake (Ugx 6B) as it came to be popularly preferred to be referred, be paid back. Is it in COSASE's interest to update the public about the progress being made?
Many Probe Committees have been instituted to probe questionable undertakings by several Gov’t bodies systems at different levels of government administration but their visible impact has been limited, for reasons best known to the committees. The Lands Probe Committee is underway and when it is finally done, a report will be generated with recommendations. The Makerere Probe Committee finished its work, the impact of these reports remain to be seen and felt.
We have to give credit where it is due and markedly point out our failures to deter the possibility of their replication. Anyhow, let us a wait the proceedings of this committee with hope that transparency and accountability will be restored at the Nations’ Central Bank (BoU) if indeed the odds fall in the bank’s disfavor. It is imperative that national public resources are handled in a very transparent manner and according to the established framework of protocols and laws of Uganda, short of which, one cannot help but draw alleged conclusions relating to corruption and embezzlement.
Given our corruption rankings as a country, and the much-clamored achievement for a middle-income status come 2020, I wonder whether these committees are positively influencing our rankings to that effect and, driving us towards our envisaged dream through purging dysfunction out of statutory enterprises.
