By Ronaldo N. Kalangi
Parliament’s public committee has grilled officials from state House over two missing vehicles of Papal.
PAC members led by Angeline Osegge and Gerrard Karuhanga tasked a team led by office of the President acting permanent secretary Mr. Willis Bashasha, to reveal the whereabouts of the cars after Auditor General’s report of his 2015/2016 showed that the cars were missing.
The lawmakers questioned why the price of the two cars were too high when Pope Francis had requested for one of the cheapest cars.
It has been established that a Kia Soul Hatchback and a Mitsubishi L200 pickup truck were bought at $35,940 (about Shs135m) and $50,631 Shs190m.
The Auditor General, Mr. John Muwanga wrote that in 2015 office of the President and Ministry of Works spent a total of Shs322M for the procurement of Papal vehicles in November 2015.
After the Papal Visit, the Ministry of Works and Transport was required to give out reports to the coordinating ministry office of the President regarding the expenditures made out of the funds released for the procurement according to signed memorandum of understanding.
While responding to queries from charged MPs, Mr. Bashasha said the Papal cars could have been moved from office of the President to ministry of Works and Transport parking grounds.
He promised to look for such historic cars and he will later on furnish parliament and the nation at large with all the necessary information.
Pope Francis is expected to re-visit Uganda in 2019.
