Finance wants funds classified
Nov 25, 2006
MPS on the public accounts committee were yesterday stunned when the Treasury’s accountant general requested that sh4.5b ‘suspiciously’ given to the internal affairs ministry be classified.
By Mary Karugaba
MPS on the public accounts committee were yesterday stunned when the Treasury’s accountant general requested that sh4.5b ‘suspiciously’ given to the internal affairs ministry be classified.
Gustave Bwoch told the committee chaired by Nandala Mafabi that he had submitted to the committee a confidential document containing the explanation for the transaction.
“Mr. chairman, I request that this document does not leak to the public. The document contains the explanations of the queried sh4.5b given to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I beg that the committee discusses it without the press,†Bwoch pleaded.
But Ssebuliba Mutumba demanded to know whether the supplementary was treated as classified in the first place.
Last week, permanent secretary Stephen Kagoda told MPs that he had returned to the treasury sh4.5b “suspiciously†given to his ministry by the finance ministry.
He said finance released the money to his ministry without his knowledge.
“The release was a surprise to me because the ministry headquarters had not made any formal submission for a requisition to that effect. Secondly, the items for which the funds were being released were strange to us,†he said.
The money was released as a supplementary release between July 2004 and March 2005.
It was released as additional funds for the procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers to escort the World Food programme’s relief supplies.
Bwoch and his team were thrown out of the committee for failure to come with the secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, to explain the issues.
“This is the third time you are appearing here without the secretary. Sorry, we are not going to listen to you. Go and come back when you are with him. We need him here,†Mafabi (above) said.
MPS on the public accounts committee were yesterday stunned when the Treasury’s accountant general requested that sh4.5b ‘suspiciously’ given to the internal affairs ministry be classified.
Gustave Bwoch told the committee chaired by Nandala Mafabi that he had submitted to the committee a confidential document containing the explanation for the transaction.
“Mr. chairman, I request that this document does not leak to the public. The document contains the explanations of the queried sh4.5b given to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I beg that the committee discusses it without the press,†Bwoch pleaded.
But Ssebuliba Mutumba demanded to know whether the supplementary was treated as classified in the first place.
Last week, permanent secretary Stephen Kagoda told MPs that he had returned to the treasury sh4.5b “suspiciously†given to his ministry by the finance ministry.
He said finance released the money to his ministry without his knowledge.
“The release was a surprise to me because the ministry headquarters had not made any formal submission for a requisition to that effect. Secondly, the items for which the funds were being released were strange to us,†he said.
The money was released as a supplementary release between July 2004 and March 2005.
It was released as additional funds for the procurement of Armoured Personnel Carriers to escort the World Food programme’s relief supplies.
Bwoch and his team were thrown out of the committee for failure to come with the secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, to explain the issues.
“This is the third time you are appearing here without the secretary. Sorry, we are not going to listen to you. Go and come back when you are with him. We need him here,†Mafabi (above) said.