MPs grill NDA officials over accounts

May 03, 2014

The National Drug Authority (NDA) maintains several suspicious but dormant bank accounts despite being ordered to close them after they were discovered five years ago, MPs have heard.

By Vision Reporter

The National Drug Authority (NDA) maintains several suspicious but dormant bank accounts despite being ordered to close them after they were discovered five years ago, MPs have heard.

NDA officials pleaded with the parliamentary committee on statutory authorities and state enterprises, that the main Board was supposed to discuss closure of two accounts in Mbarara but was dissolved before it could.

The officials led by board chairman, Dr. Sam Zaramba, said they now want to seek approval of the interim board.

“We took over a Board less organisation and the decision to move from Bank of Baroda to Stanbic Bank was made, but the accounts could not be closed because the signatory to the accounts had resigned,” Dr. Zaramba said.

He explained that soon after Gordon Sematiko’s appointment, the Board was dissolved and therefore, there was no authority to appoint the accounting officer signatory to the bank accounts.

Sematiko was supposed to be the accounting officer. He said Sematiko was finally made NDA accounts signatory in February 2014 and the resolution registered with bank of Baroda for eventual closure of the accounts.

The NDA head of finance, Dan Badebye, said the accounts were opened to ease movement of cash from head office to regional offices. The NDA is the country’s drugs regulatory bod

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