By Andrew Irumba
Please Ugandans, next time they send you to bring 10 poor people for possible assistance kindly consider Bank of Uganda’s (BoU) Deputy Governor Dr.Louis Kasekende, for he has written a protest note to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga distancing himself from claims that he is filthy rich and that he owns several properties and land titles in and around Kampala.
This ‘allegation’ which is meant to portray him as a rich man for ulterior motives whereas not is being traded by Aruu South MP Hon.Odonga Otto.
Last week, this cantankerous, pencil thin commando (if you watched how he recently stormed parliament during Togikwatako fracas) tabled before Parliament’s COSASE committee that is investigating the controversial closure of seven commercial banks 75 posh land titles allegedly belonging to ‘poverty stricken’ Louis Kasekende.
In doing all this, our reporter confirmed that the three time legislator was building his case to finally move the committee to give stern action against now troubled Deputy Governor and other BoU officials being accused of misappropriation of funds during the controversial closure of seven banks including Crane Bank that was sold to dfcu Bank not only at ‘a samosa’ price, but also on credit!
In his letter to speaker Kadaga on Tuesday seen by this reporter, Dr Kasekende ‘clarified’ that 23 of the 75 land titles that the MP alleges to be belonging to him actually belong to his family members who have independent financial martial to own them.
Kasekende also said in his letter that the other 12 titles belong to a one Moses Musitwa, whom he also denied of having ever been his driver as alleged.
“The said Moses Musitwa is not and has never been my driver as alleged. He happens to be a person who once bought 1.4 acres of land upcountry from me, a search of which shows that he later subdivided it into 12 plots. The other nine (9) plots are owned by family members who are capable of owning land/property in their own right,” reads part of his letter.
Kasekende said that 9 other land titles are owned by his brother Herman Kasekende while another 3 land titles are owned by Martin Kasekende, his other brother.
2 other land titles are owned Kasekende’s sister known as Harriet Kasekende while the other two comprised in one land title are owned by another brother of his called George Kasekende.
Mr Kasekende said two land titles are owned by the estate of his father, the late Benedict Kasekende, which constitutes the Kasekende Family ancestral home, jointly owned by the family.
The Deputy Governor also wrote that two alleged land titles comprised in one land title listed twice) was once owned by his wife but was sold 13 years ago.
This could mean that the man of God is literally poor and needs your contribution to push life, because really, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going!
“In respect of the land titles I own, I should state that there is an on-going verification exercise being conducted by the office of the IGG in relation to asset declaration by all senior staff of BoU, of which I am part,” Kasekende wrote.
Mr Kasekende also protested that some of the titles were listed twice for reasons he is yet to establish.
It was not possible to readily establish the facts as the 3-man special COSASE sub-committee is also conducting an inquiry into the properties in question.
The Deputy Governor demanded that all the documents he said are false should be expunged from the records of the investigating Parliamentary Committee, an investigation launched to determine why forged documents were tabled against him and for the Speaker to provide redress to him in line with the Rules of Procedure.
“For the record, the sale of the residual loan portfolio to a Mauritius Company, Nile Rover Acquisition in 2007 mentioned by Hon Otto as justification for his inquest into my wealth happened when I was at The African Development Bank and thus not an employee of Bank of Uganda,” Mr Kasekende said.
On the alleged transfer of money from MMAKS Advocates, Tororo District Local Government and China Railway, Mr Kasekende said the information relating to the three accounts was based on false/forged documents.
“A review of the documents received from Cosase reveals that all the information relating to the operation of the bank accounts in the joint names of Louis and Edith Kasekende or in the names of Edith Kasekende was based on false/forged documents. It is very unfortunate that such documents were submitted to support such serious allegations against me,” Mr Kasekende protested to speaker Kadaga who has powers on her parliamentary COSASE committee.
