First Lady Janet Museveni’s name reportedly came up during yesterday’s
closed-door talks MPs held with Auditor General John Muwanga. File
photo
FIRST READ:
For God and my country or For my stomach, my
family, relatives and friends: The paradox of Museveni’s 2 billion Car amidst a
dead health sector, increasing poverty , youth unemployment and struggling
economy
Uganda legislators Clash with Museveni over Bigirimana: Mps insist
he must go while Museveni insists he must stay
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2012/11/uganda-legislators-clash-with-museveni.htmlJanet faces questions over OPM cash saga
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Janet+faces+questions+over+OPM+cash+saga/-/688334/1615438/-/7pqi9iz/-/index.html
By YASIIN MUGERWA
Posted Friday, November 9 2012 at 02:00
Posted Friday, November 9 2012 at 02:00
In Summary
Revelations.The Auditor General John Muwanga
reportedly told MPs that the Minister for Karamoja used Shs143.6 million on
overseas trips, including nine to Israel in one month.The First Lady could be questioned when the Public Accounts Committee next week begins inquiring into the multi-billion shilling theft scandal at the Office of the Prime Minister, members revealed yesterday.
Ms Janet Museveni’s name reportedly came up during exploratory talks PAC held with Auditor General John Muwanga yesterday morning. In the same discussions, it was also revealed that part of the foreign aid OPM received for northern Uganda and Karamoja was instead spent on buying high-end luxury vehicles for ministers in the department.
PAC members say they expect that the President’s wife, who is the Minister for Karamoja, will be asked to explain how she could have travelled to Israel at least nine times in one month alone.
“The auditors have given us shocking details in their report… [The First Lady] is supposed to answer for the expenditure of Shs143.6 million in travel abroad. The information we have shows that she travelled nine times to Israel in one month and this is suspicious,” Mr Gerald Karuhanga (Indep. Youth Western) told the Daily Monitor.
At yesterday’s closed-door meeting, MPs also heard that when auditors asked Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana to explain why he authorised the suspect spending of Shs20.1 billion off the Crisis Management Account, he replied: “I THOUGHT THE MONEY HAD COME FROM HEAVEN AND WE STARTED SPENDING IT.”
Mr Karuhanga said part of the money was used to buy cars for new ministers at OPM and a Mercedes Benz for Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi.
“It’s hurting to know that the money that should have gone to the people of northern Uganda where children are suffering from nodding disease and hunger was used to buy vehicles for ministers and the Prime Minister,” Mr Karuhanga said.
He said PAC agreed that Ms Museveni be invited to explain her side of the story. “Whether people used her name to siphon money… that will be another matter.”
Last night, Presidential Press Secretary Tamale Mirundi, who clarified that he was speaking on behalf of the First Lady and not the Minister for Karamoja, said the question should not be how many times the First Lady travelled to Israel.
“Did she travel for holiday or tourism? She travelled for official duty because Israel is an expert in agriculture in arid areas. In any case, the Constitution does not limit the number of times a First Lady should travel to Israel,” Mr Mirundi said.
He said when summoned, the First Lady will appear before PAC to defend herself.
Old car
Mr Mbabazi last week said he found an old Mercedes Benz that had been used by his predecessor for seven years against the recommended four years.
It was costly to maintain due to frequent mechanical breakdowns, prompting government to provide him a new one as entitled, he said.
Mr Henry Musasizi (NRM, Rubanda East) told the Daily Monitor that the auditors narrated to the PAC how Mr Bigirimana authorised spending of donor funds without approved work plans.
“Mr Bigirimana did not seek information from Ministry of Finance regarding the transfers but went ahead and utilised funds that had been fraudulently transferred,” Mr Musasizi said.
Mr Musasizi said the Auditor General’s response to questions about the Premier’s persisting claim that there is no evidence pinning Mr Bigirimana was: “The report is in black and white, PAC will establish the facts. For us we did our part and it’s up the politicians to follow where the money went. The evidence is in our report.”
At least Shs50 billion in funds for the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda is believed to have been stolen at OPM. Five donor nations have reacted by suspending aid to Uganda.
Hearings
Mr Paul Mwiru, the vice chairperson of PAC, yesterday indicated that his committee will open hearings into the massive fraud at OPM on Monday with officials from Ministry of Finance, then Bank of Uganda and Mr Bigirimana’s team.
Mr Mbabazi, the First Lady and any other minister involved would be summoned.
Mr Godfrey Kazinda, the former principal accountant at OPM, who was interdicted and has been charged over the matter, is also expected to be invited to testify before PAC.
On Wednesday the Commissioner for Information at OPM, Mr Moses Watasa, said that Mr Bigirimana would not leave office as demanded by a Parliamentary resolution, saying “when people are angry, they want to see blood, they want to see heads roll but mob justice will not work.”
A group of MPs on Wednesday gave the government up to Tuesday next week to either interdict Mr Bigirimana or they embark on a motion of censure against Mr Mbabazi and the ministers in OPM.
OPM fraud: First Lady denies
taking part
Publish Date: Nov 10, 2012
By Vision Reporter
KAMPALA - The
First Lady, Janet Kataaha Museveni, has refuted allegations that she
participated in the multi-billion shilling theft scandal at the Office of the
Prime Minister.
Last
Thursday, when the Auditor General, John Muwanga met the public accounts
committee (PAC) at Parliament, there were allegations that part of the foreign
aid the Office of the Prime Minister received for northern Uganda and Karamoja was instead spent on
journeys she made to Israel
at least nine times in one month alone.
The trips were said to have cost sh143.6m.
Some
Members of Parliament on Friday demanded that they meet her over the matter.
But Mrs Museveni dismisses the allegations as false and malicious.
She
explains that she went to Israel
once to make an on-spot observation of the technology of watering dry lands,
and did not use money meant for the poor in the north.
She
castigates western youth MP Gerald Karuhanga who implied that a company called
Jesus belonged to the First Lady and she appealed to Ugandans to search for the
truth and fight evil.
Her statement:
The
NTV evening newscast of November 8, announced how the First Lady has been
‘pinned down’ as being part of the OPM cash scam. They claim I travelled eight
times to Israel
in one month, taking with me hundreds of millions of shillings.
I
know that there is a good number of Ugandans who are still in shock over this
‘revelation’. That is what forces me to make this statement immediately, so
that I can allay their fears.
In
2010, I was invited to Israel to make an on-the-spot observation of the methods
they have used over the years to access water in that very dry part of the
world, so that we could benefit from their experience in our struggle to change
the face of Karamoja.
I
was not able to honour the invitation for a long time, but in September 2010, I
took advantage of the one time I was accompanying H.E the President to the
United Nations General Assembly meeting to travel from Entebbe
via Tel Aviv, Israel and
then joined the President in London for onward
travel to the New York
meeting.
Therefore,
the cost of the greater part of that journey was not paid for by OPM. Perhaps,
I should add here for everybody’s information that the information I now have
is that the money that paid for this trip was not from PRDP funds.
This
was a study tour I undertook for purposes of my work in the Karamoja region. As
such, I have no apologies to make because I was not a tourist and I was not on
a pleasure trip.
It
is therefore painful to see how far some ‘leaders’ will go to distort the truth
in order to achieve their own objectives.
This
is not to say that some money was not stolen; it may have been, and if it was,
the investigations will unearth the evidence to prove that. But why try to
include my name “eight times”? Surely, even a child can judge that it is
impossible for that to have happened in one month!
The
voice of the newsreader on NTV that sounded so gleeful as he triumphantly
announced that “the First Lady has been pinned down in the saga of corruption”
for me was the most tragic, because it demonstrated the extent of malice and
hatred that drives a lot of public reporting and that adds salt to the wound of
the cancer of corruption.
We
need to understand that corruption is not just stealing of public funds alone,
but when the media, or politicians, falsely accuse people, for their own
political gain, that is also corruption.
I
cannot end this statement without commenting on what Hon. Gerald Karuhanga
repeated many times on the news broadcast, specifically that the First Lady
travelled eight times to Israel and that the AG’s report also mentions a
company which was doing business with OPM, under the name of Jesus.
He
seemed to imply that this company belongs to me! Well, let me inform the public
that the only business I transact with OPM is my service to Karamoja as
specified by the appointing authority.
For
that also I have done what is humanly possible to serve my country. If God is pleased with my effort, it is enough for me; after
all, it is Him I serve.
In
conclusion, let me appeal to the people of this great land to hold hands
together and believe the truth where it is told and fight evil where it may be
found.
This
land is going to reject and eject those who poison the minds of its people as
they take bribes from the thieves and speak on their behalf.
Cash
advanced to cashier's personal accounts
