PAC needs to be fair and just
Mar 15, 2010
THE chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC), Nandala Mafabi, has denied that he asked the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation to carry out an audit into the CHOGM activities by Saatchi and Saatchi. Instead, he said, he asked UBC to conduct an audit into another company, Globecast.
THE chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC), Nandala Mafabi, has denied that he asked the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation to carry out an audit into the CHOGM activities by Saatchi and Saatchi. Instead, he said, he asked UBC to conduct an audit into another company, Globecast.
Mafabi also denied that he ever received the UBC report.
However, evidence shows that the report was received by Mafabi’s secretary on February 3. She wrote by hand that she received it on behalf of the PAC chairman and the clerk of Parliament.
In the cover letter accompanying the report, the UBC managing director said the audit was in response to a verbal request made by Mafabi on December 15.
The UBC boss confirmed to The New Vision that the report was commissioned by the PAC chairman and that it was specifically on Saatchi and Saatchi.
The report cleared the firm of any wrongdoing. It said the value of media exposure was over sh6b, three times the cost of the project.
It also said the variations were justified because the firm was asked to carry out additional activities which were not in the original proposal. It looks like Mafabi deliberately withheld information from the committee members because the findings did not conform to what he wanted to hear.
The Saatchi and Saatchi case is particularly sensitive because it involves the son-in-law of President Museveni, Odrek Rwabogo. It makes the CHOGM probe in Parliament increasingly appear like a witch-hunt of particular individuals for political gain.
The consequence of this perception is catastrophic for Uganda. It risks undermining PAC’s commendable work of the past months. It also risks sweeping away the Auditor General’s reports, allowing for the real CHOGM thieves to get off the hook.
The NRM was right to entrust the oversight committees in Parliament to the opposition. But the opposition would be wrong to abuse this trust, by hiding information and not give people a fair hearing, out of petty party interests. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.
Mafabi also denied that he ever received the UBC report.
However, evidence shows that the report was received by Mafabi’s secretary on February 3. She wrote by hand that she received it on behalf of the PAC chairman and the clerk of Parliament.
In the cover letter accompanying the report, the UBC managing director said the audit was in response to a verbal request made by Mafabi on December 15.
The UBC boss confirmed to The New Vision that the report was commissioned by the PAC chairman and that it was specifically on Saatchi and Saatchi.
The report cleared the firm of any wrongdoing. It said the value of media exposure was over sh6b, three times the cost of the project.
It also said the variations were justified because the firm was asked to carry out additional activities which were not in the original proposal. It looks like Mafabi deliberately withheld information from the committee members because the findings did not conform to what he wanted to hear.
The Saatchi and Saatchi case is particularly sensitive because it involves the son-in-law of President Museveni, Odrek Rwabogo. It makes the CHOGM probe in Parliament increasingly appear like a witch-hunt of particular individuals for political gain.
The consequence of this perception is catastrophic for Uganda. It risks undermining PAC’s commendable work of the past months. It also risks sweeping away the Auditor General’s reports, allowing for the real CHOGM thieves to get off the hook.
The NRM was right to entrust the oversight committees in Parliament to the opposition. But the opposition would be wrong to abuse this trust, by hiding information and not give people a fair hearing, out of petty party interests. Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done.