UMA unveils campaign to eliminate financial fraud
Mar 25, 2024
Fraud in Uganda’s business sector has mainly been reported in the financial industry, such as banks, insurance companies as well as telecommunications companies.
UMA Board Chairman Deo Kayemba (3rd from left, front row) and other representatives after the meeting in Lugogo. (Courtesy Photo)
Simon Okitela
Journalist @New Vision
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Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA) has unveiled a campaign in the fight against financial fraud in business operations in the country.
Under the arrangement, UMA is to develop a database that will among others compile and profile any person who has been implicated in any form of financial fraud in any sector.
According to UMA Board Chairman Deo Kayemba, the database will make it easier for prospective employers to do due diligence on professionals before they are hired or contracted for any work. He noted that the sector has for some time suffered severely from fraud which has frustrated efforts of investors to hire financial professionals.
Fraud in Uganda’s business sector has mainly been reported in the financial industry, such as banks, insurance companies as well as telecommunications companies.
Experts, however, say that this is because of the amounts usually involved and the number of people that are affected, among other factors.
“Many manufacturers have reported fraud and sometimes, even when the cases are reported to authorities, they do not come to the public. One of the members of UMA has at one time lost money to fraudulent people, mainly orchestrated by employees,” Kayemba noted.
Joseline Kateeba, a Non-Executive Director at UMA and Managing Director at mattress manufacturer Crest Form disclosed that her company lost 2.5 billion shillings in two years. She said that unfortunately for the victims, the legal processes take too long as the criminals continue rebranding and committing fraud.
The Chief Finance Officer of Biyinzika Poultry International Ltd, Karen Atamba, equally blames the delays by the authorities in processing fraud cases, saying this makes companies more vulnerable because the suspects continue defrauding others.
The fraud database will be a company limited by guarantee and owned by members of the private sector who will subscribe to it. Currently, private sector members are being encouraged to register their interests before the database is finally established.
The database will also have a mechanism where one feels that they have been unfairly treated by including information on them in the database and this could lead to redress like removal.
Member companies will have to incorporate an internal policy providing expressly that employees who have been terminated for fraud shall be added to a centralized fraud database.
The company/database is expected to be operational “in a few weeks” according to the promoters.
This approach is not the first of its kind in the world, it is already being used in countries like India, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the USA.
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