Milton Opio Orech has served in different capacities at Bank of Uganda for 37 years making him one of the experienced staff at the Central Bank.
However, little has been known of Mr. Opio until last week when he appeared before Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and StateEnterprises (COSASE) as a witness in the ongoing probe into sale of seven commercial banks by his employer.
To an ordinary Ugandan, the main roles of Mr. Opio as head of security of Bank of Uganda would be protecting the Bank’s staff, property and members of the public who come to do business at the Bank.
The main responsibilities of Opio and his team are to analyze potential threats to the Bank’s security and devise strategies for avoiding or mitigating all such risks.
Therefore, Opio and his department perform these core functions:
Protects the Bank’s staff, property and members of the public, communicates with private and national security forces, gathers security intelligence, investigates security-related incidents.
To the public, Opio would have appeared nowhere in a probe which involves a transaction of billions of money.
Unsung Hero of Scandals?
For those who don’t remember, Milton Opio-Orech formerly worked at bank of Uganda as Senior Principal Banking Officer as Director banking.
He was accused of aiding fraud in which government lost over shs13.4bn under Northern Uganda in a mother of scandals which rocked Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)as several government officials were implicated in mismanaging of shs 50 billion in 2012.
He was accused of conniving with Geoffrey Kazinda, to withdraw billions of shillings meant for post-war recovery efforts in northern Uganda and Karamoja sub-regions using forged signatures.
It emerged that Opio did not consult OPM former Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana whose signature differed and instead continuously dealt with Kazinda whose signature was authentic.
He was subsequently interdicted and asked to step aside but was later recalled by deputy governor bank of Uganda Louis Kasekende.
It is reported that at first, Opio remained malingering in the corridors of bank of Uganda without office as his god-father planned where to fix him.
According to a source at the bank, a new directorate named directorate of security was created and an internal advertisement was placed on the bank notice board.
It is further indicated that Opio emerged the best candidate without allowing a competitor and became the director security a directorate that never existed before.
Employees at the bank say Milton Opio has never been cleared for his past cases of fraud but only surfaced at the bank and a new directorate was created for him.
Employees further say Opio who has been at the bank for the last 37 years could have been aware and connived with his longtime colleague Justine Bagyenda in the disappearance of vital documents about the sale of former banks.
Vast Wealth
It has emerged that Opio is one of the stinking rich civil servants we have in Uganda.
An investigation by this website reveals that he deals in real estate, transport, importation and he boosts a chain of businesses in downtown Kampala.
Opio owns several commercial buildings, posh apartments and rentals in many suburbs of Kampala.
This website has been able to land on Opio’s apartments which he erected last year and are nearing completion in Kireka- Kamuli suburbs.
When contacted he acknowledged ownership of mulitibillion properties saying, “I declared all my properties to the IGG and she knows them.”
Opio added that depending on his period of service (37 years) he deserves owning more than what he has.
“People serve government in a shortest time but when you see what they own you get surprised,” he said.