The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The National Social Security Fund-NSSF saga has made stronger the case for ring-fencing senior financial and accounting positions for licensed accountancy professionals in selected organizations, according to Minister Henry Musasizi.
The State Minister for Finance, Planning, and Economic Development says that he supports any punishment that can be prescribed by whoever appointed the NSSF Chief Finance Officer who has been accused of mismanaging the finances.
The Parliamentary Committee that investigated the fund recommended the sacking of Stevens H. Mwanje for failing in his responsibility of, among others, ensuring accountability for Shillings 806 million disbursed to labor unions from the Fund’s coffers.
The committee also concluded that Mwanje should not have been hired for that position since he was not licensed by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPAU) as provided for under the law. Musasizi, himself a CPA, says he participated in the formulation of the 2013 law, which provided for such positions to be occupied by professional accountants.
Musasizi was speaking at the 13th graduation ceremony of ICPAU Friday, which featured graduates of Certified Public Accountancy (CPA), Certified Tax Advisors (CTA), and the Accounting Technicians Diploma (ATD). The Accountants Act of 2013 targets senior accounting positions in government departments, agencies, and ministries, including local governments, parastatals, and NGOs, among others.
Musasizi supported the punishment of the ones who appointed Mwanje and that he should also be sacked from the position to paveway for competent persons.
ICPAU says they cannot take action against an individual who is not their member, but that the law allows them to take action against the organizations that are violating it.
The fate of Mwanje and the top NSSF Officials including the former managing director Richard Byarugaba and Patrick Ayota, the Acting MD could take longer before being determined, since even the Minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development, as well as the Board, have all been censured by the parliamentary process.
ICPAU President Constant Othieno Mayende, who took the graduates through the taking of an oath of integrity, said, that the good thing about deploying a licensed CPA is that action can be taken immediately after a complaint is filed implicating them. He urged them to go on and apply for membership and licensing so as to benefit from the provisions of the law.
This was the first graduation since the education sector was closed down in 2020 following the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic. A total of 916 graduated as CPAs while 27 were Certified Tax Advisors and 55 as Accounting Technicians, all from the last eight diets covering December 2020 to December 2022.
“The institute was not spared from the blows of Covid-19. The examination diets were disrupted and student’s progression was curtailed,” says Mayende, adding that many of their students abandoned the course. The total number of those who have completed CPA now stands at 4,805., of which CTAs are now 77. 1,825 have now completed ATD and Mayende advised them to go on and apply for the professional CPA course.
The institute is due to hold another examination diet in May and this will be the first under the revised curriculum, which, ICPAU says, was aimed at enabling the industry to meet the new demands of the market. Mayende says that this will also be the launch of the online (computer-based) examination as a pilot.
Minister Musasizi urged ICPAU and the accountants to help in reducing bureaucracy in government departments, saying that apart from being time-consuming, they affect service delivery.
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