The public accounts committee has today grilled two more suppliers of the Office of the Prime Minister.

They are Zephaniah Robuk the director of Salgado Enterprises and Fabian Cassie the managing director Centenary Bank.

Paul Mwiru

The committee chaired by Jinja East MP Paul Mwiru discovered that Robuk was hired to supply beans and maize flour but he was paid much more money than he was meant to receive.

Mwiru revealed that Robuk received shs 352 million for items he did not supply.

Robuk said that he returned the money to the interdicted principle accountant Geoffrey Kazinda but failed to table evidence to the committee that shows that he returned the money.

Meanwhile the same committee has cleared Centenary Bank saying that the bank received the authority to open the said accounts from the permanent secretary Pius Bigirimana.

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Centenary Bank as one of the banking institutions whose foundation sits on creating a better life of the people of Uganda and East African countries in general, it has put in places a number of banking projects that has attracted thousands of Ugandans to bank with it.

The Corporate Affairs and Communications manager of Centenary Bank, Allen Ayebare says that centenary bank is Uganda’s leading microfinance bank serving customers with 53 branches and 101 ATM centres across the country.

She says, “We (centenary bank) have been trusted by over 1 million customers, a third of the total banking population of Uganda. Our mission is to provide appropriate financial services especially micro finance to all people in Uganda in a sustainable manner and in accordance with the laws and regulations of Uganda.”

Ends

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The first phase of the 976 million shillings cancer ward at St. Francis Hospital Nsambya has been completed, bringing hope to thousands of breast, cervical and prostate cancer patients.

The facility comprises of a 32 bed ward, counseling rooms, and doctors facilities and construction has been sponsored by Centenary Bank Uganda and Rotary district 9200-the Uganda chapter of rotary international.

Centenary bank has contributed 30% of the cost (283,318,140 Uganda shillings) and 48 million shillings towards the organisation of other awareness support activities that will be carried out over a period of three years. This brings the total amount injected into the project by the bank to over 300 million shillings.

Speaking during the tour of the project by the president of rotary international, Sakuji Tanaka and the Vice President of Uganda, Edward Sekandi, the managing director of centenary bank, Fabian Kasi said that the project being carried out under the bank’s ‘bridging the cancer gap initiative fits well within the organisation’s mission of improving the quality of life of Ugandans.’

Tanaka lauded the bank and the rotary community in Uganda for funding the construction of the ward saying that it will go along way in ensuring that cancer patients in Uganda get quality treatment and medical care. Last year centenary Bank and rotary also launched 12 cancer awareness clinics in order to extend treatment to cancer patients in Uganda.

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farmers picking cotton in Gulu northern Uganda

The project will improve Centenary Bank’s agricultural finance portfolio, including all aspects of value chain finance. The agricultural portfolio is expected to double translating into a growth of US$ 34 million and the number of agricultural finance clients are projected to increase by approximately 30,000 over four years. The mix of products and services to clients will also be improved and transaction and loan losses reduced. To achieve this, Centenary Bank will create five new service centers in rural areas, upgrade staff skills and reinforce key systems such as agricultural risk management.

“We hope that the funds we are investing will improve the mix of products and services to clients whilst targeting different value chains such as coffee, maize and livestock. It will also roll out innovative e-banking products to rural areas and train staff in advanced agricultural lending methods, like structured financing, contract farming, trade financing including warehouse receipts and linkage banking,” saidFabian Kasi, Managing Director, Centenary Bank.

Centenary Bank is contributing $1.1 million while the World Bank’s Agriculture Finance Support Facility (AgriFin) is contributing an additional $1 million to support the program. Signed on May 25, 2011, the $2.1 million Centenary Bank-AgriFin project is the 2nd to be signed in Africa, in addition to Rwanda.

AgriFin, which is part of the World Bank’s Agricultural and Rural Development Department, is a Global Partnership Program that has been established with the support of a US$20 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  The Facility co-finances innovative proposals from financial institutions in Africa and Asia to develop their value chain finance business lines. It also facilitates peer – peer learning and generation and dissemination of acquired knowledge in smallholder and SME agricultural finance. This provides a platform to AgriFin clients and non-clients to learn from the different initiatives and models that are being co-financed.

“I am glad that we are partnering with a farmer-oriented Bank to implement this program. AgriFin’s goal is to assist financial institutions to improve and expand their services to commercial smallholder farmers and SMES by building Centenary’s capacity and systems. We hope that this small initiative in addition to what we are already investing in the agriculture sector will make a big difference for Ugandan farmers,” said Kapil Kapoor, Ag. World Bank Uganda Country Manager.

To date, the World Bank AgriFin program has supported 10 agricultural finance business development projects of which 7 are in Africa and 3 in Asia.

Centenary Bank is the leading microfinance bank in Uganda with over a million customers. It is also leading in financing the agricultural sector, with 17 percent of the Bank’s lending portfolio is in agriculture against the industry average of 6.5 percent. The bank has 6 agricultural products supported by various partners including the Rockefeller Farmer Guarantee Program and DANIDA.

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