KAMPALA – The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has Thursday, June 20 ordered the ministry of finance to explain currency scandal that rocked the central bank since last week.
Kadaga issued a one-month ultimatum to the Ministry of Finance officials also ordering them to respond on the Treasury Memorandum in regards to issues of Bank of Uganda and other reports on the finance system.
Ms. Kadaga made the revelation as she responded to questions raised by the public and journalists in an engagement dubbed #AskKadaga, detailing the performance of the 10th parliament.
“I’ve told the Ministry of Finance that they have one month to respond on the Treasury Memorandum in regards to issues of Bank of Uganda and other reports on the finance system,” the speaker said.
Ms. Kadaga blasted government, accusing responsible agencies and the appointing authority of failure to implement groundbreaking recommendations by the Committee on Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) head by MP Abdul Katuntu, saying maybe this scandal [at Central Bank] couldn’t have happened.
The Katuntu Committee noted a number of inconsistencies key among them being closure and sale of the defunct Banks without any inventory or documentation and grossly undermining the legal procedures of bank closure by the Central Bank.
She said that the ongoing scandals at BoU lower the country’s ability to pull serious investors.
Meanwhile, commenting on landlord and tenant bill, the speaker said confirmed that the law was presented to Parliament and “we’re going to debate it today during plenary (Thur-20-June-19).
“I want to assure Ugandans that we shall follow up their concerns especially as regards collecting rent in foreign currency,” Ms. Kadaga said.
On floods in the city, the Speaker said that the State Minister for Kampala presented a statement on why there are floods in Kampala.
She said that a Committee of Parliament will go to the field to follow up on the concerns raised by the Minister as well as the feasibility of proposed recommendations.
On the OTT issue, Ms. Kadaga said “I told the Clerk to Parliament that the institution will not pay OTT for Members of Parliament and there will be no further debate on the matter.
Commenting on the minimum wage bill, the speaker said parliament is very keen on the issue of the minimum wage and is waiting for the ascent to be given by the President.
