By Spy Uganda
Kampala: If you thought singer Desire Luzinda is the only Ugandan suffering from a new malady called Age-phobia then you’re wrong; the latest victims happen to be officials at the Bank of Uganda (BoU).
Spy Uganda has learnt that BoU management is grappling with a scandal in which several Bank employees are said to have under declared their age, perhaps to extent time for retirement.
Our Spy reveals that so far 12 employees have landed in trouble after reportedly being nabbed altering their age with intent to cheat taxpayer’s money and other retirement benefits.
The shocking discovery came about after BoU management asked staff to submit copies of National IDs and it turned out that 12 staff had different dates of birth from those submitted at the time of employment by the bank.
An act of falsifying age according to the BoU Administrative Manual requires them to be dismissed but they have been asked to voluntarily retire, hence qualifying them for the retirement benefits under shady circumstances.
Those named in the fresh scam include Auka Modesto; Director of the National Payment System Department, Semugga Stephen; Director Administrative Services, Oketcho Solomon; Executive Director of Administrative Services, Opio Patrick; Assistant Director Security and Rumanzi Peter Ivan; Assistant Director of the Petroleum Fund.
Others include; Odonga Ekuka Sophie (Currency Department), Enyasu Julius (Security), Mpora Adonia (Administrative Services), Olonga Fred (Non-banking institutions department), Katamba Simon Patrick (Commercial banking), Kaitesi Stella Lubega (Statistics) and Wamurumba Peter Musai (Banking).
The Spy at BoU reveals that deputy governor Louis Kasekende sanctioned the resolution after BoU’s Human Resource Director Dr. Jan Tibamwenda wrote to him for clarity about the matter in a letter dated November 16.
Tibamwenda’s letter reads in part thus; “Reference is made to the memo dated 12th November 2019. Your attention is drawn to sections 6.8.12, 6.8.14 of the Administration Manual (April 2018) regarding the update of staff information.”
“I wish to further draw your attention to the Board Resolution No. 247 made 11th October 1999 which stated that staff shall not be permitted to change the age declared to the Bank at the time of entry.”
He added; “The purpose of this Memo is to seek your approval for the above-mentioned staff to voluntarily retire rather than considering the Administrative Manual (April 2018) penalty recommendation under section 6.9.11 that calls for an outright dismissal.”However, efforts to get a comment from Bank of Uganda Public Relations office about the impasse were futile since they couldn’t answer our repeated calls.
