The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
On Feb.07, for example, the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga sent the case to the Auditor General to audit the loan. She said a special audit will guide the House in debating the PAC report and gave a Feb. 20 deadline for the Auditor General to submit the special audit report to her office. The time frame, however, appears too tight and likely to be extended.
In another instance, although the PAC report recommended that the government ombudsman, the Inspector General of Government (IGG), investigates Muhakanizi for possible “conflict of interest, collusion and connivance” in acquiring the PTA loan and reports within 60 days, not much action has been taken.
Muhakanizi versus NMS
Muhakanizi and Kasaija’s problem appears to stem from the determined manner in which they peddled the loan from office to office. As early as January 7, 2016, the parliament had refused to authorise acquisition of the loan as unnecessary, in dollars, and costly at 4.6% interest which was considered a commercial rate.
But Muhakanizi and Kasaija, according to the PAC report, “changed the objective and title of the loan prioritizing provision of medical supplies” and returned it to parliament.
When the Governor of Bank of Uganda; Tumusiime Mutebile was informed, he on February 02, 2016, wrote to the Ministry of Finance warning against taking the loan to allegedly “stabilize the exchange rate”.
“I would strongly recommend that you do not proceed with this proposed borrowing,” Mutebile wrote.
“The BOU has more than sufficient foreign exchange resources to support these interventions; our reserves currently amount to $2.8 billion and we do not require additional resources mobilized from the PTA Bank loan for this purpose,” Mutebile added.
Within the walls of Finance, the then Director for Economic Affairs, Lawrence Kiiza, also opposed the loan. Those close to him say he felt the terms of the loan were akin to government borrowing from a money lender. The Accountant General, Lawrence Semakula, also objected to the loan.
In spite of all the objections, Kasaija and Muhakanzi pushed ahead and on March 03, 2016 re-tabled the loan approval request to parliament. They had done their homework and, in spite of mild protests, on April 26, 2016, got the required approval. But it is turning out to be a likely pyric victory, considering the storm around them.
But, so far, Muhakazi and Kasaija appear sheltered. Although four government departments that were named as beneficiaries of the PTA loan money did not get it, it is only the National Medical Stores (NMS) that appears to be seeking redress from parliament.
Some insiders say the real cause of the current crisis was an internal audit of NMS ordered by Muhakanizi. Officials at NMS reportedly felt Muhakanizi was targeting them. So they raised the issue of the US$200 million PTA loan to parliament in retaliation.
According to a request that Muhakanizi submitted to PTA Bank for the US$200 million loan; US$43 million was to go to NMS.
The other major government departments Muhakanizi told PTA would get the money were the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), US$3 million, Ministry of Works and Transport, US$26 million, and Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) US$26 million.
According to documents seen by The Independent, although the MoFEP started processing the loan in 2015, money from PTA Bank started coming in from October 20,2016 and by July 24, 2017, all the US$200 million had been received by the Ministry of Finance.
However, the PAC report notes that REA did not get any money as it did not have any project funded by PTA Bank, the Ministry of Works and Transport got only US$9 million out of the US$26 million promised. The report makes no mention of UNRA.
Meanwhile, NMS which has brewed all the trouble for Muhakanizi and Kasaija also did not get any money (it expected Shs68 billion) from the PTA Bank loan, according to the PAC report. Instead, it got Shs7 billion as a supplementary budget and Shs20 billion as arrears. Regarding the balance of Shs41 billion, Kasaija in April 2017 advised NMS to get medicines on credit to be paid in the next financial year 2017/2018. When NMS informed the
Minister that it could not get further credit, the Ministry of Finance gave it Shs127 billion as a frontloaded part of its appropriation for 2017/18.
Given this background, the PAC report noted that it is not clear how the US$200 million borrowed from PTA Bank was spent.
If the Muhakanizis of this world were to be hailing from the N or E of the country the story would read differently today, remember the naughty girl Kabakumba Matsiko? But these guys case is far worse but believe me they will survive the axe not that they are innocent but the W factor will come into play. My grandmother taught me to believe the simple biology that ,”blood is thicker than water!”
Once again Ugandans are going to witness the very predictable ‘protectionist’ tactics come into play by the extremely partisan minded Speaker of Parliament as she goes about fulfilling her role to do what she does best – PROTECT THE PIGS!