By Andrew Irumba
All is not rosy at the Najjanankumbi based Forum for Democratic change (FDC) party Headquarters as party members are critically divided into two factions; One that vehemently opposes the extension of COSASE’s term for two more weeks to finish their report on BoU and another that clearly states in black and white that “it’s our time to eat also, Katuntu should vacate”!
Whereas the Speaker of Parliament Rt.Rebecca Kadaga wants the committee led by Bugweri county MP Abdu Katuntu and Anita Among to wind up the probe into Bank of Uganda’s sale of the defunct seven banks, the leadership of FDC lead by LoP Betty Aol Ochan want new committee led by Mubarak Munyagwa (Kawempe) and his deputy Moses Kasibante (Rubaga North) to take over immediately.
TheSpy Uganda understands that the faction pushing for Katuntu’s committee to vacate office as soon as yesterday is being clandestinely spearheaded by the LoP herself Betty Aol Ochan and ofcourse the incoming Chairman Munyagwa Mubarak aka (Mugaati gwa Bbata).
In this, they say, among others, that it would be a good start for Munyangwa and team to also partake of the lime light that BoU probe has so far attracted both locally and internationally.
Forget not, that indeed the international community including World Bank, IMF among others have been following BoU probe bit by bit and are extremely interested in the outcomes of the probe, because they are interested parties in the economics of the country.
To this, Munyagwa and his team contend that they must partake of that International platform. It would also market Munyangwa’s tenure to have it on record that it’s his committee that released BoU report and made recommendations for action.
But lastly, members believe Katuntu is seating on sacks of money, not forgetting all the privileges that comes with that lucrative office. They think this is the time atleast to also take the spill overs.
If this is achieved, all the achievements made by Katuntu and team in this probe will be shared between the out-going and in-coming bosses. To Munyagwa, he makes no losses.
Critics say the lack of patience from Betty Aol Ochan, the leader of opposition in Parliament is understood to come from her bosses in Najjanankumbi. And the motive is to bury achievements of Katuntu and Among-led COSASE.
Some pundits say BoU officials could have already cut a deal with some key figures in opposition to strangle the up-coming biting report by Katuntu led committee just to ensure they’re kept a float with their loot.
Katuntu, who is not in good books with the current FDC leadership, has been hard on Bank of Uganda officials who breached rules in the sale of the now closed seven banks.
The concern right now is that with Munyagwa taking on the tail end of the probe is the best way of killing this inquiry which has exposed the bigwigs of BoU, as incompetent and having acted in bad faith while closing and disposing off several closed banks.
The motivation is therefore not clear why LoP Ochan rejected a request by Speaker Kadaga to extend the tenure of Katuntu which was set to close in a matter of two weeks.
“The BoU inquiry is at ‘critical stage’ and the Speaker is right in concluding that changing the committee leadership and membership would jeopardise the effective conclusion of the probe.
Aol is however under pressure from the Najjanankumbi leadership to defy the Speaker,” a senior researcher and commentator disclosed.
Critics argue that BoU apologists are going behind the doors to save BoU officials from incorruptible Katuntu though opposition after key Gov’t officials abandoned them.
