The director of financial markets and developments at the Central Bank Mr Benedict Sekabira has been intimidating Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, Parliament learned on Tuesday.
The infuriated Speaker let the cat out of the bag on Tuesday as MPs converged to debate the COSASE report on 7 defunct banks which were closed by Bank of Uganda between 1993 and 2017.
The report that has since become a thorn in Bank of Uganda officials’ flesh was tabled last Thursday by former COSASE chairman Abdu Katuntu who chaired a committee that investigated Bank of Uganda and its accomplices as named in the Auditor General’s report of September 2018.
Resuming to extensively debate COSASE report, Kadaga revealed to MPs that Mr. Ssekabira, who is the liquidator of the defunct commercial institutions has been threatening with intent to blackmail the independent arm of government.
Sekabira has so far written to the Speaker demystifying COSASE report.
COSASE probed BoU, Sekabira’s name emerged as an official who closely worked with implicated administrators to close the banks fraudulently.
At some point he clashed with Governor BoU after the Central Bank head learnt that Mr. Sekabira had ceased reporting to him.
“Since the tabling of the report, I have received a number of documents from Mr. Benard Sekabira, director financial markets, development and Mr. JN Kirklands and Associates who took concerns of the findings, conclusions, and recommendations made by the committee. In order to ensure fairness, I have directed the Clerk to scan the documents and distribute to you-members so that you can take them into account when the debate starts,” Kadaga said.
“I will give authors of the report to clarify some of the issues raised. However, I would like to take exception to part of the content of Sekabira’s letter where he says that in the event that ‘my requests herein are not met then I will have no option to conclude that you (the speaker) and COSASE’ have treated him with bias. Honorable members, I don’t know Sekabira, I have never met him in my life so I don’t know why I should be biased against him so I find that part of the letter as an attempt to blackmail me and arm-twist parliament and the committees.”
She however, cautioned that no one will attempt to blackmail parliament and stop its constitutional obligations.
“I want to warn that no one can blackmail this House or even the Speaker and they should stop these attempts. I have no interest in the COSASE neither do I have in any committee. I don’t know this man, I have never talked to him or even sat with him and I want to remind the public that the work of the committees are protected by law and it is this House that gives work to the committees. So let no one try to arm-twist and blackmail us in performing our statutory duties given to us by the Constitution,” Kadaga warned.