Management, Cash crisis rock Bank of Africa, staff fear for massive exit, near shut-down

By Our Reporter

There is both a management and cash crisis at Bank of Africa Uganda, this publication can exclusively report.

This coming less than two weeks after a staff was accused of taking money from clients’ bank accounts.

While the cash crisis is yet to end, there are claims of a leadership crisis at the ank.

Last week, a well-placed source said the Bank’s Executive Director, Mr. Robinson Bernard Magulu, nearly resigned his position.

While the reason to an attempted resignation is not clear, a soruce says there is a lot going on at the Bank.

Mistreatment

According to our source, the Managing Director of Bank of Africa- Uganda Arthur Isiko is mistreating the workers /staff. The source claims that Isiko has created a state of fear in the bank and is ruining the bank as if it is personal property.

“He has failed to manage the human resource and most of the senior staff are leaving. See attached list of the staff who have so far gone,” the source adds.

Fraud

The source alleges that there is rampant fraud at the bank.

“Insider staffs like Ian Maende are stealing huge sums of money using forged court garnish orders. Ian has stolen over 500 million from dormant accounts at the bank. And his is not the only case, there are very many others. He has been using the Park, Nakivubo and Main Branches to steal the money. And there is no money that can be withdrawn using court garnish orders without the signatures of the top leadership of the bank,” the source says. 

Misconduct

According toour source, the M.D has got the bank car which is supposed to be in the bank pool, to do bank business. However, the source alleges that the MD has rather given the car to his mistress to use it for private business, yet the M.D himself uses another bank vehicle.

Theft

Further, the source says that almost everyone at the bank (Bank of Africa) is stealing money using one way or the other. The source says: “Everyone from the top to the bottom is stealing depositors’ funds. Tellers are stealing money, big people are also stealing money at the bank, for example Luckie Bale, a teller stole 15 million and used it to take his child for treatment. After the child recovered and being a born again Christian, he reported the theft and was fired.”

Salary loan

Our source adds that there is a staff salary loan bonanza at the bank that “Almost every staff of B.O.A-U has been given a salary loan,” and the “problem is that most have been given loans above their threshold which they cannot pay back in time.”

“And when Arthur Isiko creates auditions that force them to go, they go with unpaid loans. But this is depositors’ funds that they are swimming in!” the source alleges.

Other issues

Sources say that several married couples are getting salary loans using spouse’s properties without the consent of their spouses. When they fail to pay, their spouses protest/ resist the attachment of the properties/ securities.

For example, one Faith M. a senior manager in the Human Resource Department got a huge loan top-up using the husband’s property, but without the knowledge and consent of the husband. A source explains that she forged the husband’s signature.

“And as a human resource, she has been advising other several employees to do the same. Such monies can never be recovered when employee leave, because their husbands will go to court and block the recoveries since they didn’t consent,” the source says.

Recently, the source adds that the M.D Isiko, issued a circular by way of the attached email to staff, telling staff not talk to media. But because of the way he treats staff, the email is circulating all over the media houses.

“He has no control over the staff. He can no longer manage the staff and the bank,” the source adds.

Because of his poor people management style, our source says that Isiko has put the bank in the public media thereby exposing the bank to collapse because, based on the negative media reports,  people have started withdrawing/ taking away their deposits so that they dont fall in the footsteps of defunct Crane Bank.

The source says that Isiko’s Deputy, Robinson Bernard Magulu was forced to resign last week. “Arthur Isiko first sent him on forced leave at the beginning of this month. On the 13/10/2023 he sent him to the B.O.A-U Board Disciplinary committee where Arthur Isiko sits as the secretary,” says the source. 

Although the rumor’s of the ED’s resignation declines to go away, our source insists that Magulu resigned last week and “sent a message to all staff bidding them farewell.”

“I want to assure you that with his departure we are going to witness a mass exodus (resignation) of other staff from the bank,” the source adds.

In our next story, we profile how and why the Bank is headed for a collapse.