Minister of Finance Matia Kasaija and the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development are having sleepless nights and risk censure from Parliament over loan secured in 2016 to procure drugs for the National Medical Stores (NMS).
Parliament has directed that the two explain the utilisation of the said funds leading to the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, differing debate on a report by the Public Accounts Committee on the utilisation of the controversial $200 million PTA loan.
Kadaga directed the Auditor General, John Muwanga, to investigate the loan utilisation, postponing what would have been a fateful day for Finance Minister Matia Kasaija (NRM, Buyanja) and Secretary to Treasury Keith Muhakanizi who MPs wanted sacked over what the Committee called “obtaining the loan by false pretense…”
“There is need for the Auditor General to carry out a special audit on the utilisation [of the loan] and submit the report to my office by 20th February 2018,” said Kadaga.
The Report
Debate on the same report, said Kadaga, resumes upon conclusion of the special audit.
The disputed loan, which a section of MPs claim was sourced for among other specific purposes, the financing of foreign currency procurement by the National Medical Stores following fluctuation of the shilling against the dollar, never served its intended purpose.
Instead, the reason for the approval of the loan has been a matter of dispute, with Finance Minister Kasaija maintaining that the loan was meant for no specific purpose but general budget support.
During Tuesday’s debate, Kasaija denied any wrongdoing, insisting that the loan was meant for budget support, and fought off accusations of using the Health sector to have the hitherto rejected loan approved by Parliament.
“We said the need for this money includes among others agriculture, transport. When we were debating the report, my colleagues emphasized the issue of health and other spending pressures,” said Kasaija.
Sack Kasaija and Muhakanizi
In the main report, Committee members led by MP Angeline Osegge (FDC, Soroti) took a different turn, instead recommending Kasaija and Muhakanizi sacking for what they termed misleading Parliament into endorsing the borrowing.
NMS General Manager Moses Kamabare last year pressed alarm buttons when he warned that Health Centres II and III will not be given any medical supplies and consumables, citing funding constraints way after the loan was approved.
MP Cecilia Ogwal (FDC, Dokolo) then conveyed the alarm to the House, prompting questions on the whereabouts of the approved loan.
In the query that ensued, officials from the Ministry of Finance stuck to their guns, saying the borrowing was not made in the name of NMS but general budget support.
On where exactly the loan was put, the officials maintained that it was placed in the Consolidated Account, and was appropriated by Parliament as is the case with other monies.
Central Bank Governor Emmanuel Mutebile and Accountant General Lawrence Semakula issued professional opinions against proposals to acquire the loan.