Finance Ministry: A docket dogged by ghost

By Our Reporter

On September 27 2017, the former Arua Municipality MP Col.
Ibrahim Abiriga [RIP] was caught by KCCA surveillance cameras
urinating on the wall of ministry of finance.

The incident went viral on social media and Abiriga was
charged, convicted and fined shs40000 for being a ‘public
nuisance’.

But probably the penalty was a bit harsh for a diabetic of
advanced age! But again, he must have thought twice before
zeroing in on the Ministry of Finance fence; possibly it was in
order!

Anyhow, was Abiriga trying to relay a message to the public
that the building hosts the most troubled ministry, rotten to the
core? Or that Evelyn Anite, David Bahati and Keith Muhakanizi,
all of the UTL infamy seat there?

That said, over the years the finance ministry has been in the
eye of the storm, with several politicians who have served
there leaving with a tainted public image.

For instance, at the height of investigations into the
‘fraudulent’ sale of Uganda Commercial Bank, Parliament
mooted the idea of censuring then finance Minister Gerald
Sendawula. The legislators had accused the minister of
participating in what they dubbed a ‘dubious deal’ in which the
country lost a precious bank.

As the debate raged on, Ssendawula remained ‘alone and
frightened’ and when he saw that the writings were clear that
he was going to be censured, he pleaded with members not to
end his political career in such a manner. This notwithstanding
the fact that President Museveni had earlier on summoned
Movement MPs to persuade them not to proceed with the
censure move.

The MPs wanted to know the truth about the sale of UCB and
Ssendawula had tried to ‘hide’ some facts. Left with no option,
the former legislator from Kooki told members that ‘they were
crucifying him for nothing’. He summarized his plea by saying
that ‘the pressure was too much for him to sanction the deal’.

This in effect, meant that he was helpless though he never
named the persons who pressured him to seal the deal.
Eventually, Ssendawula even asked to retire from politics and
government for that matter. He has since remained a low-
profiled man.

Another minister in this docket was Syda Bbumba whose
departure from the same ministry was equally muddy. Bbumba
started as a humble politician in the ministry but ended up
being pushed out in a botched censure move by parliament.
She, together with former attorney general Kiddu Makubuya
were pushed out on allegations of participating in a shoddy
award of shs149bn to city tycoon Hassan Basajjabalaba.

Like Ssendawula, MPs had drafted a censure motion with
signatures but this was thwarted after the President intervened
and ordered the two ministers to resign [honorably] their
cabinet seats. Sources said that the duo had early in the day

rushed to President Museveni in Kisozi where they sought his
intervention in the matter to stifle the planned censure by
members. However, insiders suggested that the president
didn’t want to get involved in this. He thus gave them his
chopper which flew them to Kololo Airstrip with instructions
that they should announce their resignation that afternoon
during plenary. The same Museveni according to sources feared
that the duo might not heed the directive and he tactfully
wrote a letter to second deputy premier Moses Ali. The secret
letter with very few words was saying in a cabinet sitting, it had
been decided that the two ministers are sacked. Bbumba and
Makubuya however, got wind of his and decided to take a
diplomatic approach by announcing their resignation instead of
being fired with disgrace.

Upon her ‘resignation’ the President appointed his longtime
friend and liberation war comrade Matia Kasaija. Along with
other ministers, Kasaija is currently in the news presiding over a
sector that is exposing government inefficiencies to the
marrow. The sector which boasts of five ministers including
Kasaija [senior minister], Haruuna Kasolo [micro-finance],
Investment [Evelyn Anite], Planning [David Bahati] and Gabriel
Ajedra [General Duties] has been in the news with ministers
almost tearing up themselves on a daily basis over UTL deal.
To begin with, Kasaija of recent had a cold war with Kasolo.
Apparently, Kasolo whenever he went to the field to give out
money and also rally people to form SACCOs, he presented
himself as minister for finance and as such spoke with full
authority as so. Sources in finance told this magazine that

eventually Kasolo’s field trips were reduced tacticfully through
the Microfinance Support Center. It so happened that those
days, whenever he went out, Kasolo would promise huge sums
of money to groups and the money would be delivered but
after the threat to Kasaija, he started promising funds which
would eventually never come or come in less figures. This
therefore discredited his integrity and voters started viewing
him as a liar.

Away from the Kasolo axis, there came another with Anite over
the appointment of the executive director of Uganda
Investment Authority. Whereas Anite favored ‘fired’ Jolly
Kaguhangire, Kasaija fought this and eventually, Kaguhangire
was kicked out disgracefully. What came next was even Anite
‘fleeing’ the country and went for a study leave abroad.
On the other hand, Anite and her colleague David Bahati were
reported to be riding an icy relationship which even reached
the president. Apparently, Anite accused Bahati of allegedly
trying to interfere into her docket as investment minister. That
Bahati would engage investors and through his contacts in state
house, he would ferry them to the president; something that
Anite interpreted as a move to undermine her and portray her
as incompetent in her capacity as investment minister.  
That aside, there is a feud between Anite and Ajedra. Theirs is
related to the continued stay of Bemanya in the office of care
taker of troubled UTL. Whereas Anite ordered for Bemanya’s
exit, Ajedra went ahead and renewed the contract for a full
year.

For now, almost all ministers in Finance have been dragged to
the IGG and are under investigation. The investigation is as a
result of the UTL deal which seems to have gone bad. Sources
told this Magazine that the racket in UTL saga is actually 11
people. These include two ministers, top officials in other
departments and some members of Parliament.