The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga decided to take COSASE Chairman, Hon Mubarak Munyagwa back to class on constitution and parliament rules of procedure before ordering the comic politician to refrain from Bank of Uganda inquiry.
Munywagwa after assuming office decided to reintroduce Bank of Uganda probe which was exhausted by his predecessor Hon. Abdul Katuntu and his team, made report and recommendations on full orders of the Speaker on reference to the Auditor General’s report which exposed Bank of Uganda as having illegally sold off/ closed 7 commercial banks including Crane Bank which belonged to city businessman Sudhir Ruparelia.
In a letter dated June 10 written by Speaker Kadaga, to chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Commissions, State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) after she received about five petitions asking her to block Hon Munyagwa from wasting tax payers’ money on re-investigating an already finished case by the same house last year.
Kadaga wrote that under article 90(1) of the constitution, parliament is empowered to appoint committee’s necessary foe efficient discharge of its functions.
She further stressed that it therefore goes without saying that committees are delegates of the house and as such are accountable to and indeed, carry out work on behalf of parliament.
She also quoted Articles 90(2) and 94(1) of the same constitution which empowers parliament with the Rules of Procedure of parliament, to prescribe the powers, composition and functions of the committees.
“It is this power that is exercised under rules 153, 154 and in particular instance 155 (1) (i) and 178 of the rules of procedure in creating and empowering COSASE”. Kadaga wrote.
She told Munyagwa that his committee draws its mandate from rule 178 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Uganda which mandates COSASE to examine the reports and audited accounts of the Statutory Authorities , corporations and public enterprises and in context of their autonomy and efficiency , ascertain whether their operations are being managed in accordance with the required competence and where applicable in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices.
The speaker also lectured Munyagwa that the committee examines income and expenditure of any public corporation and state enterprises or anybody or organization established by an act of parliament together with the balance sheet and statement of profits and loss accounts which the auditor general may have been requested to prepare under the constitution or under the provisions of statutory orders regulating the financing of a particular corporation , enterprise or body and report of the auditor general on them.
“it is important to note that the work of Cosase as shown in 3 above and as stipulated under rule 178(3)emanates from reports of the auditor general in exercise of his/her constitutional mandate under article 163 of the constitution of the republic of Uganda.”
She added that “it is also very critical to note that the report of the Auditor General by virtue of rule 178(3) of the Rules of Procedure is first laid before the house before being referred to the committee for consideration.”
“It is evident that no other report of has been authored by the auditor general to parliament of Uganda in respect to the closure of commercial banks in Uganda by bank of Uganda to warrant an inquiry into the same committee. Similarly no authority of the house has been granted to freshly investigate the closure of commercial banks”.
Kadaga noted that “it is out of order to attempt to reconsider any specific questions upon which the house has come to a conclusion during the current session. It is evident that you are in bleach of rule 219”.
“I note that no motion was moved either by you as chairperson or by any other member to that effect. I therefore propose and guide that you refrain from proceeding in relation to this matter until otherwise directed by the house”.
Recently, Chairperson of COSASE Mubarak Munyagwa appointed a select subcommittee headed by Makindye East Member of Parliament (MP), Ibrahim Kasozi to probe BoU again especially over the Shs478 billion as that BoU claims it injected in Crane Bank limited (CBL) as liquidity support during its receivership that took place between October 20 2016 and January 25, 2017. BoU closed CBL due to undercapitalization.
The bank of Uganda officials reportedly further met after realizing that Kadaga would go by the call by three petitions that recently urged her not to allow a second BoU probe meant to help top officials there to clean their names that were tarnished during the first probe that started in late October 2018 and ended in February this year.
The Katuntu led inquiry report pinned BoU officials on negligence and irregular closure of seven commercial banks as they didn’t follow the established guidelines.
Observers have since questioned the position, motive and interest of Munyagwa in resurrecting fresh Bank of Uganda probe.
Kadaga’s letter left Ugandans wondering whether the opposition legislators is competent enough to lead the COSASE team.
