Ms Sarah Birungi Banage, (R) the assistant commissioner – public and corporate affairs of URA.

In a press statement released on Thursday, Sarah Birungi Banage, the Assistant Commissioner Public and Corporate Affairs with URA dismissed as false recent media reports suggesting that the beneficiary officials had earlier ‘hatched a plan’ to share the oil bonanza saying the transaction was both legal and had duly been approved through the Attorney General’s office.

The entire team came from URA, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development.

“It is standard international best practice for employees to receive bonus payments/or honoraria for exemplary performance in both the public and the private sector. Equally under the Ugandan Constitution; the President has a prerogative as a fountain of honor to reward exemplary performance and this has been exhibited in the fields of health, academia, sports among others,” Banage’s  statement reads in part.

The payments which have popularly been referred to as a “presidential handshake” have caused a lot of debate among Ugandans with some members of the civil society and a section of members of parliament calling for an investigation to the transaction saying it didn’t follow the due process of the law.

According to the Observer newspaper, a section of MPs have demanded that the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, urgently institute a probe into the payments since the involved officers are public servants who draw a monthly salary for their work with government.

Paul Amoru the Dokolo North MP

Dokolo North MP, Paul Amoru, is quoted to have described the payments as “irregular, uncalled for and disturbing” and called for an immediate investigation into the matter.

“For us, as concerned MPs, from the information we have, URA should answer to the Parliamentary committee whose work directly deals with that to help us answer certain questions.It is unprecedented and dangerous,” Amoru said.

He was among MPs who called for a press conference on Wednesday in which a sizeable number of them said they want to clearly understand the source of this money and the person who authorised its payment.

Reports indicate that at least 42 officials benefitted from the bonus for their role in the capital gains tax dispute, in which the Ugandan government was awarded a combined total of USD700m.

However, Banage says there has been a lot of misconstrued information published in some dailies and online publications to the fact that payments were illegal, no approvals were obtained and that government officials ‘hatched a plan’ to share the oil bonanza.

“There is a lot of inaccuracy in the amount of money and the names of beneficiaries some of whom a former and current employees of URA. For example the following people both current and former staff of URA are erroneously included in the circulating lists namely;- Kyomuhendo Irene, Nabwire Agnes W, Nyakwera Jennipher, Nanziri Justine Stella, Wabokha Robert, Sebyala Samuel, Semombwe Charles, Patrick Mukiibi, Kateshumbwa Dicksons, Saka M Henry, and Otonga Michael Ochan,” Banage wrote.

Banage explained that contrary to the public view about the payments, all the legal processes were done before approvals were made as required by the Financial Management Act and that a Commissioner General was appointed to disburse the respective payments.

She added that the payment was a fraction of less than 1% of the total money won in the case.

Media reports have named the civil servants, who benefited, including, Ms Doris Akol, Head of URA (the initiator of the suit), her predecessor Allen Kagina who now runs the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), the former Attorney General, the former Secretary to the Treasury, and the head of Kampala Capital City Authority, Jennifer Musisi, who headed the tax body’s legal department at the time.

In 2010, Heritage Oil sold its interest in Uganda to Tullow Oil at over $1.5bn, and the Ugandan government decided to impose a capital gains tax on the sale. But the oil firms refused to pay and the drawn-out dispute went on to the UK court of arbitration, where it was concluded in 2015.

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Sekandi being awarded at a previous function for his contribution to the decentralization process in Uganda.

The President said this in a speech read for him by the Vice President, Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, during the annual commemoration of the African Day of Decentralization and local Government at Masaka Liberation ground on Wednesday.

Museveni, said that decentralization was a key milestone that enabled the involvement of Ugandans in the decentralization process from the beginning in order to bring services nearer to the people.

The event was held under the theme; ‘Decentralization at 24: Re-engineering Locally initiated Development decision-making and leadership at all levels’.

Museveni also revealed that the Country’s GDP has shifted from about 300 dollars per capita in 1985 to the current about 800 dollars.

“Uganda’s average GDP is growing at 6.2 percent annually. This is one of the fastest growing economies on the continent,” he said, adding that the number of Ugandans living below the poverty line of less than 20 percent of the population has also significantly reduced.

Museveni however, said there was need for more concerted efforts to reduce absolute poverty for the East African region and on the continent in general.

He said this can mainly be achieved through investing in infrastructure improvement and that this in turn would reduce the cost of doing business and hence attract more investment and link markets.

Tom Butime, the Local Government Minister revealed that Local Governments have established business economic forums, which comprise all economic development stakeholders identifying comparative viable economic ventures which will propel the country to the desired middle income status by 2020.

He said that among other achievements, decentralization has provided leadership from the village to national level, adding that civil servants who deliver the basic services are recruited based on need of the respective local Government.

Thomas Ole-kuyan, the Deputy Country Director United Nations Development Programme, said that with Uganda’s focus on local governance, its people will have greater access to services, security and have their priority development goals met.

He pledged UNDP’s support to the decentralization process in Uganda in order to achieve uniform growth across all districts.

Ole-kuyan added that during the 24 years of decentralization, Uganda has evolved in the areas of; political and administrative governance, financial management, Service delivery and economic development functions which, he said are imbedded in the power shared across the government administrative spectrum.

During the same function, Sekandi was among individuals honored for their exemplary public service records and support to the decentralization process in Uganda.

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The proposal comes a week after lawmakers announced a move to table a private members bill to amend the Anti Corruption Act to insert provisions to confiscate properties of the corrupt. They are also calling for life imprisonment for those convicted of corruption related charges.

This proposal included in the draft private member’s Bill, “The Anti-Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2012” which intends to cure existing disparities that exist between how political leaders and public servants are treated.

Civil servants accused of engaging in corruption are by law susceptible to interdiction and forced to leave office until the matter is resolved but its not clear how politicians are treated as it is normally left to their appointing authority to determine whether the implicated officer continues serving or not.
Ultimate Media

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The source quoted Kayihura as saying that there are some police officers who leak our secrets to the members of opposition. But we are told the police’s disciplinary team is investigating the reports and the officers who would be found guilty shall lose their jobs or be demoted.

Recently the police reshuffled the policemen who were working at parliament following allegations that they were working closely with the leader of opposition Nathan Nandala Mafabi and with other opposition MPs.

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The Lord Mayor ofKampala, Hajji Erias Lukwago has set up a committee to find out how 800 million shillings were used to evict vendors from the city streets.

Lukwago says that there is no way how the KCCA director, Jenifer Musisi Semakula could have used 800 million shillings in evicting vendors. However a source in KCCA accounts department told us that out of the 800 million shillings, only 88 million shillings was used in eviction exercise and the remaining balance cannot be accounted for.

Lukwago says that negative forces fight him wherever he asks for accountability of such public funds. He says that there would be no pothole if the public funds at KCCA were not being embezzled. Lukwago says billions of money disappear in KCCA coffers every single day.

 President Museveni not so long ago told the citizens that the government created the post of city executive director and that of Minister forKampalato fight graft inKampala. However desipite the creation of the above posts graft is on increase in Kampala and in Uganda as general. In fact one can conclude that 85% of the Uganda public officials and civil servants are corrupt.

Ultimate Media

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