By Andrew Irumba
Kampala: The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga has officially barred Kawempe South Member of Parliament Mubarak Munyagwa aka Mugaati gwa bata to desist from conducting fresh investigations into the sale of seven commercial banks by Bank of Uganda (BoU) and the Bank’s other operations.
Munyagwa, who is the Chairperson of the Committee on Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), recently instituted a Sub-committee headed by his deputy Ibrahim Kasozi, who is out on bail over terrorism and subversive charges to conduct fresh investigations into Bank of Uganda operations, especially about the sale of six commercial banks that include Crane Bank.
However, many Members of Parliament and concerned citizens petitioned Kadaga, arguing that it would be a wastage of tax payers’ money and parliament’s precious time for COSASE to investigate a matter that had already been investigated by incorruptible former COSASE Chairman MP Abdul Katuntu.
Close sources allege that they suspect Munyagwa to have connived with troubled deputy Governor Louis Kasekende to sneak in ‘doctored’ books of accounts to exonorate him from the already biting Katuntu report. It should be remembered that Katuntu’s committee spent good months asking Kasende and team to present all relevant documents but would instead come empty handed everytime they were for them. At time they believed the incorruptible Katuntu and team would use them as evidence to further implicate them.
So,in the hands of a ‘showdy dealer’ Munyangwa, they feel they can sneak the doctored material and pretend to be carrying out a fresh audit on BoU. Those close to Munyagwa told this reporter that they now nicknamed him ‘Super Kamyufu’ since he begun the debate to do afresh audit in BoU! “Oyo kati takyali Mugaati gwa bata, kati tumuyita Super Kamyufu,(literally meaning-that one is no longer Mugaati gwa bata,his new Nick name nowdays is super Kamyufu),” his close pal told this reporter last night.
Kadaga went ahead to stop Munyagwa from dragging COSASE into the Bank of Uganda mess, although the latter seemed unmoved.
Now in order to cement her directives to Munyagwa, Kadaga has written a dossier to him, detailing why he shouldn’t conduct fresh investigation into the BoU case and why he stands to be declared as being out of order if he goes ahead with it. Kadaga’s letter dated June 10th, addressed to the Chairperson PAC-COSASE, copied to the Deputy Speaker, Vice Chairperson PAC-COSASE and Clerk to Parliament, reads in part thus;
“…Under rule 178 (4) the Committee, upon receipt of the Auditor General’s report, is required to consider and examine the recommendation of the Auditor General and thereafter under Rule 178 (5) to lay the report of the Committee on the table for purposes of debate by the House under clause (5) of article 163 of the Constitution. Once the Committee, as a delegate of the House, has tabled a report for debate, it has sufficiently discharged its burden and the report becomes property of the House. Upon so doing, if the report is adapted (like was the case in the matters of closure of commercial banks by Bank of Uganda,) it becomes a report of the Parliament of Uganda. The committee then stands discharged in respect of any authority of the House on subject matter of the report.
It is evident that no other report has been authored by the Auditor General to Parliament in respect to closure of Commercial banks in Uganda by Bank of Uganda to warrant an inquiry into the same by the Committee. Similarly, no authority of the House has been granted to freshly investigate the closure of Commercial Banks. Please be further informed that once the recommendations were adopted it is incumbent upon government to respond by way of a Treasury Memorandum, which has not yet been done.” Kadaga continues in her letter that “In the light of the above things, I am of the firm opinion that your action in trying to reopen a matter that was already been substantively considered and finalized by Parliament in the recent past, in the absence of a fresh report of the Auditor General on the subject or authority of the House, whose delegate the Committee is, is not founded in the Constitution or indeed in the Rules of procedure of Parliament. Moreover, I think it is prudent that Parliament allows the Bank of Uganda to focus on implementing the resolutions of Parliament that were recently made. In any case, I am sure that there is more than enough work concerning other entities before your committee that equally deserve the attention of your committee. I finally wish to draw you attention to rule 219 of the Rules of Procedure which provides as follows;
“It is out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific question upon which the House has come to a conclusion during the current Session.” It is evident that you are in breach of Rule 219. I also draw your attention to Rule 219 (2) “Notwithstanding sub-rule (1), the House may reconsider any questions upon which a decision has been taken by the House if the motion for revision is taken by a vote of half of all Members of Parliament participating in that decision.” I note that no motions was moved either by you as Chairperson or by any other Member to that effect. I therefore propose and guide that you refrain from further proceeding in relation to this matter until otherwise directed by the House.”
