Global Fund team examines Muhwezi
Mar 30, 2006
Health minister Jim Muhwezi testified before the commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of the Global Fund on Thursday. The commission chaired by Justice James Ogoola asked him to take political responsibility and apologise for the mess of the Fund but the minister refused. Ogoola had describ
Health minister Jim Muhwezi testified before the commission of inquiry into the mismanagement of the Global Fund on Thursday. The commission chaired by Justice James Ogoola asked him to take political responsibility and apologise for the mess of the Fund but the minister refused. Ogoola had described the accountability presented by Muhwezi as ‘garbage’. Other commissioners are Lydia Obonyo, tumusiime Mutebile, Dr. margaret mungherera and Kasanya Mbalire. Phillip Karugaba is the lead counsel, while David Nsubuga is the secretary. Health ministry permanent secretary muhammad Kezaala sat next to Muhwezi. Jude Etyang, Milton Olupot and John Odyek, were at the UMA hall and bring you some of the proceedings...
Ogoola: We are the ones complaining, that here is the genesis of some of our problems. I want to put it to you honourable minister that you misread your role and injected yourself in the operations of the fund. You should have left this to the technicians.
Karugaba: We are still looking at some of the correspondences by the minister.
Ogoola: The letter had instruction to the PS on some activities including not to constitute the PMU until you return from Geneva. My sense of this thing is that the only matter on the table was recruitment of staff on PMU and that is because PMU was already constituted in an interim mode and it had done tremendous work in preparation, including gathering information on the implementation of the PMU.
It included recruitment by Earnest and Young, documentation to be used in scoring the candidates’ suitability. To have or not to have PMU was for the individual country to decide and the decision had been taken to establish PMU. That being the case, they only read your letter in light of recruitment, that no recruitment should be done, this is confirmed by the letter from Kinalwa.
A lot of light should be put on why this justification while you were away.
Muhwezi: I was sceptical on re-inventing the will. Uganda was doing well and I had at all times argued against setting up PMU and it was not for the country, it was for the GF. I wanted not to create a parallel body.
Ogoola: You were waging a battle away from the battlefield. The battle had been won. Your colleagues had agreed. Yours was a lone fight. All your colleagues had deserted you and you were alone fighting the GF Secretariat.
Muhwezi: Talking is also part of fighting. I was still talking. The battle could have been won but the war was still on. If it is the view of this commission then we can as well consider changes.
Ogoola: For now we go with what it is. (Jokes) You seem to have liked giving injunctions, we could make you a judge.
Muhwezi: May be after retiring from politics. We can swap.
Ogoola: I will recommend you.
Karugaba: Was the finance ministry involved? There would be two ministers to have a say on GF.
Muhwezi: Yes, but the finance minister would have no knowledge of GF.
Karugaba: Your letter to Prof. Richard Feachem, the Executive Director GF, was it a policy communication?
Muhwezi: Yes, that was normal.
Karugaba: (Pulls out a letter) What was the point of this letter?
Muhwezi: When they made that statement that Uganda had failed to use the money, I investigated that the problem was from the GF, they wanted the two-step approach sending the money in installments.
Karugaba: Do you agree that this was not consistent with your letter to the PS?
Muhwezi: Why?
Karugaba: You said that the projects await funding but in the earlier letter you said it would earn interest.
Muhwezi: No, no. I don’t know where that comes from. I was only saying that after all if the money is here it can earn interest.
Ogoola: You said that operational communication to Geneva was policy?
Muhwezi: He reported to the assembly in Geneva that Uganda had $200m but had used only $218,000. I was really disturbed by this.
Ogoola: But this was true.
Muhwezi: No, no, no.
Ogoola: This letter was operational. We are talking about operations but you denied your technical people this information.
Muhwezi: No. Feachem said he was on phone and could be called any time. It was not operational. It was a mandate of a person who is leader of the GF here in Uganda.
Ogoola: There was nobody to write because you had injunctioned them. You muzzled them.
Muhwezi: What is wrong with that my lord?
Ogoola: But you are not an operator, you are a minister and the operator should have done that.
Muhwezi: I was informing him and telling him that he should release the funds quickly.
Ogoola: By doing this you constituted yourself into a parallel PMU.
Muhwezi: I didn’t.
Ogoola: And you didn’t have the courtesy to inform your technical staff. I wish you had restricted yourself to policy issues. You restricted yourself to Uganda yet you were a board member for over 15 countries.
Muhwezi: I was writing as a minister of health Uganda.
Ogoola: That is even worse. You said you had no role in the issues within the country.
Muhwezi: I never said that.
Ogoola: You said it at the beginning. You caused the delay by fighting whether to have PMU or budget support. This brought uncertainty in the area. That is part of the problem causing the delay.
Muhwezi: My lord if my advise was followed this commission would not be here and I have no regret over what I did.
Karugaba: You have a memo telling the PS to proceed with the appointments after you discussed with the IGG. What was this?
Muhwezi: After the appointments one person called Dr. Mutumba complained to the IGG that he had been unfairly denied appointment and I discussed this with the IGG on phone and since there was pressure and the IGG had halted the appointment for long, I was telling them that they should go ahead and appoint the PMU after the discussion with the IGG.
Karugaba: Would you call this an operational matter?
Muhwezi: It should not be taken that I should not deal with any operational matter. I could do it once in a while since I am the political head.
Karugaba: You memo to the Director General of Health Services.
Muhwezi: This was about DDT and we had made up our minds to start using DDT that is why I wanted this money to buy DDT.
Karugaba: The memo does not mention DDT.
Muhwezi: Yes but pesticides. I have argued for the use of DDT and we have won the battle.
Karugaba: Let us move to the recruitment of the PMU staff. The contest of Mutumba for the position of project coordinator. Although Mutumba was the best evaluated candidate he was not taken and you participated in putting Dr. Muhebwa.
Muhwezi: One evening the Director General and the PS came to my office over a different matter. We discussed and at the end they raised the issue of Dr. Mutumba being the best of the three names requested for. They said he was heading another project of over $40m and that he should remain there and the second person takes the PMU job.
Karugaba: Didn’t you know the person?
Muhwezi: No I didn’t have to. But I thought it was prudent not to take him since he was responsible for another US$40m project. That was big money.
Karugaba: But that project was winding up.
Muhwezi: No, I think it is just winding up now.
Karugaba: Didn’t you know the second person?
Muhwezi: I didn’t know. We were concerned about accountability.
Karugaba: Were you not concerned about the competence of the second person?
Muhwezi: The competent firm had given three names from where one could be appointed.
Ogoola: Omaswa said: I personally participated in this meeting. This meeting was held in the office of the minister which I and the PS attended, and we disqualified Mutumba because he already had another job.
Muhwezi: If he says that we evaluated, he is wrong. I did not participate.
Ogoola: You gave an opinion?
Muhwezi: Yes.
Ogoola: The PS in his testimony said: The minister is apolitical head. I consulted the Director general and we went to the minister and all the three of us agreed to give the job to the second person.
Muhwezi: That is close to the truth.
Ogoola: The advert did not say whether those with other jobs could not apply. The PS is in total agreement with Omaswa that you all participated.
Muhwezi: We did not evaluate, if Omaswa says that.
Ogoola: Evaluate is my word.
Muhwezi: They came to consult me.
Ogoola: Why did you disqualify Mutumba.
Muhwezi: There was a mind-boggling US$40m.
Ogoola: It was wrong you decided on what you don’t know.
Muhwezi: No (Muhwezi’s lawyer whispers to him)
Ogoola: I don’t know what counsel is doing, can you leave the witness alone. If you want we can swear you in and you give evidence. Earnest and Young had given three names and this was the best candidate.
Muhwezi: My lord my junior officers....
Ogoola: Do you know the nexus of the letter you wrote on the injunction?
Muhwezi: There isn’t any nexus.I explained it.
Ogoola: Muhebwa came second because he was judged to have no experience. Mutumba was running a big project of $40m. The new project is four times the size of the other one and it needed a seasoned person.
Muhwezi: If he had no experience he should not have been named.
Ogoola: You asked for three names. You made the decision out of ignorance. You should stand as a minister and bite the bullet.
Muhwezi: That I made the decision.
Ogoola: Did you know Muhebwa before?
Muhwezi: Yes.
Ogoola: Is he your friend?
Muhwezi: What do you mean?
Ogoola: Simple English.
Muhwezi: He is not my enemy.
Ogoola: So he is the opposite.
Muhwezi: Like Mutumba.
Ogoola: You did it with a premeditated decision just as you made the injunction.
Muhwezi: I did not plan for it, they came to my office, we discussed and they made the decision. I didn’t know whether Mutumba or Muhebwa had applied for the job.
Karugaba: How long had you known Muhebwa, 10 years?
Muhwezi: No. I had met him, but he was in health and I am a lawyer.
Karugaba: And he was not in the bush either.
Muhwezi: No.
Ogoola: Which bush?
Karugaba: My lord this is a retired Major General.
Ogoola: Oh...I thought the Ministry of Health had a bush. Do you play golf? You are the captain or..?
Muhwezi: I am a past president.
Ogoola: You did not get Kisanja (another term)?
Muhwezi: No. I served my two terms and quit.
Ogoola: That constitution should have been amended to give you a third term (laughter).
Karugaba: Do you own property at Acacia Avenue
Muhwezi: I had property there but I disposed it of.
Karugaba: Do you know Turyahikayo Mary Paula?
Muhwezi: Yes she is the Rubabo MP-elect. She was working in the ministry of health before I went there.
Karugaba: How would you describe the relationship between you and her?
Muhwezi: She is an NRM member so she is a political colleague. (He denies influencing her appointment to the PMU. He also denies influencing the transfer of Dr. Rwakimari from the Guinea Worm programme to PMU).
Karugaba: What can you comment on borrowing.
Muhwezi: Borrowing can be done within the ministry and paid back. For the GF it is prudence on the part of the PS. Each case can be decided on merit. I cannot say GF money cannot be borrowed because the ministry of health deals with life. If there was an outbreak of bird flu and there was no money the PS can decide to use that money for bird flu or ebola and put it back. If there was no emergency there would be no need. It would be imprudent to pressurise the PS to do so. It should be his own volition.
Ogoola: Is there a government policy on borrowing? PS what do you say?
Kezaala: It is a convention. There is no policy.
Ogoola: Does borrowing generate internal domestic arrears? Is it a good or bad thing? Does it lend itself to financial discipline? These GF borrowing was reaching epidemic proportions. We should allude to this. We shall recommend it is high time we have a policy on borrowing I government. It is not only in your ministry.
Karugaba If money is taken from activity A to B, isn’t it a diversion.
Muhwezi: It’s a borrowing
Karugaba: How long do you keep it?
Muhwezi: It has to be a reasonable time. It should not be kept for long. I agree since it is not written. Government should plan better.
Karugaba: If it (GF) was budget support would it be easily borrowed?
Muhwezi: It would be a lot easier to borrow. He (PS) would borrow from one item to another.
Ogoola: GF in Geneva feared if they made the money as budget support it would be borrowed.
Muhwezi: Even now there is tremendous borrowing.
Karugaba: A small item of sh800,000. Simon Kagumire, personal assistant of the minister asked for sh800,000 for communication for the minister
Muhwezi: I asked him. The payment was initiated and paid by GF office for my communication.
Karugaba: He says he never requisitioned the money but he received it.
Karugaba: That is why we wanted your personal assistant to be here. He just went to PMU and obtained money?
Muhwezi: He will answer. He should explain this. I heard on Radio One that I forced someone to buy a phone. These were distortions.
Obonyo: How did he receive money he never requisitioned? He signed for it.
Muhwezi: He said he thought the GF had a communication budget for me. When I pressed him, he said he gave it to my escort. When I receive money I don’t sign.
Ogoola: We are told this was for your airtime?
Muhwezi: I don’t use airtime. I pay my bills at the end of the month. Do they say I asked for it? I never did that.
Karugaba: You said you received the money through escorts.
Muhwezi: He says he gave it to my escort. I never requisitioned for money for Global Fund.
Karugaba: It is your assistant
Muhwezi: I never instructed him to receive any money for Global Fund.
Karugaba: This is receiving money by false pretence.
Ogoola: We have information that you have a Mango telephone. You have a Mango line. You asked GF for that. In September 2004 there was sh10m outstanding. Money was taken to pay those bills. Do you recall?
Muhwezi: No. Taken by myself, secretary?
Ogoola: Paid on your behalf through some one from malaria program. On 15 February 2005 a similar operation, about sh10m paid. This was not your money but GF money. Do you remember you paying sh10m for a telephone bill?
Muhwezi: I get big bills. My phone is a roaming one. I send people to pay.
Ogoola: We have a print out of your telephone bills. Do you recall sending anybody to pay your bills?
Muhwezi: I need time to find that out.
Karugaba: Sh60m was borrowed for immunisation campaigns. Do you know about the borrowing
Muhwezi: It was used to facilitate our activities in immunisation campaigns. The money was paid back. At the time I did not know. Our immunisation rate has increased from 42% to 87%. It is a high level political involvement, which has brought our success in the health sector.
Ogoola. I agree with you that success is based on high-level political involvement. Our disagreement is who funds it. The government should be the one to plan for it, finance it. What is happening you planned for these wonderful things and went to the wrong forum. You are responsible for that. There is a sense in being head. You have your share of responsibility.
Muhwezi: The permanent secretary does not need my permission to borrow.
Ogoola: The money was paid seven months later. The example I have been giving here is that a football team needs 11 players. When you take one it cannot make a team. What you have done, you have abducted one player.
Muhwezi: The litmus test is whether it affected any program.
Ogoola: We will know.
Mungherera: The problem is reporting guidelines. How does PMU explain where money went. That is the problem of borrowing from a project with strict reporting guidelines.
Obonyo: Personal assistants (PA) are give too much money.
Muhwezi: They do not account to us (ministers). They account to the PS and auditor general
Obonyo: Shouldn’t they inform you?
Muhwezi: I know that there was approval by the accounting officer. If they go direct it is wrong. I note your point.
Karugaba: There is lack of coordination. He (PA) does not inform you.
Muhwezi: There are so many trips that have been cancelled because there was no money.
Karugaba: Another sh2m was borrowed to support the minister’s travel to Rukungiri for the Yes vote in the Referendum.
Muhwezi: We needed to open up political space. It was an important issue. MPs were given money to travel to their constituencies, ministers were given money for campaign.
Ogoola: You set it in the budget. Had anybody put money in the budget.
Muhwezi: Ministry of finance might know.
Ogoola: If Cabinet was aware there was no money that would save your PS. When did you first know about it (money borrowed for referendum campaign)
Muhwezi: I read in the papers that ministers were given money from GF for Referendum campaign
Kasanya: You seem not to be aware of what is happening in your ministry. Don’t you have meetings to discuss this?
Muhwezi: I lobby for funds, I go to Parliament
Kasanya: When you look at the general administration of your staff of the ministry, we have asked for personal assistants of ministers but non of them appeared
Muhwezi: You should issue a summon
Ogoola: Your colleagues said your ministry is one of the best. After this we shall see if you remain the top league. There are queries everywhere. If the press ranked your ministry as the best, I think they have to rethink that.
Muhwezi: Maybe other ministries are worse of
Ogoola: Why was the Referendum not financed by NRM party. It was a partisan activity since you were campaigning for yes. Wasn’t there anyone campaigning for no?
Muhwezi: To Cabinet this was an important issue. There was no one in parliament who wanted no.
Karugaba: $19,832 was for minister’s travel to West Africa and southern Africa to campaign for Omaswa’s candidature as regional representative for WHO. You were aware it was being borrowed.
Muhwezi: Cabinet approved a budget for it. I did my work. At no time was I told the money was borrowed from GF.
Ogoola: A cheque of sh30m paid back went stale. That would mean even after two years the money was not paid.
Muhwezi: Cabinet approved that the cheque be paid. I will follow it up.
Karugaba: Your PS had the information last year.
Ogoola: By the time the cheque went stale you had passed the financial year.
Muhwezi: We shall come to the judiciary to get advise on how not to borrow. Deputy chief justice Leticia Kiyongo had to travel on borrowed money.
Karugaba: The supporting voucher for the trip that said the minister travelled to South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Botswana, also shows Entebbe, London, New York, Johannesburg, Gabarone, Harare, Lusaka, Nairobi. It includes destinations outside southern Africa.
Muhwezi: When I travelled the routing was different. There was a mix up. My PA gave me a cheque to West Africa. I was supposed to meet the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. He (PA) should be the one to account for these things.
Ogoola: Mukula defined supervision as political supervision. Do you share that bit.
Muhwezi: Not entirely. At times we meet technical people.
Ogoola: We are told technical people come and advise you on questions to answer. It is clear they are not doing technical valuation. On these trips you don’t go to meet sub recipients
Muhwezi: I have gained some technical expertise.
Ogoola: Do you know anything about condoms?
Kayungu, We all do
Karugaba: You live in Kampala but received allowances for seven nights for travel to Kisoro, Kanungu, Kayungu, Rukungiri, Bushenyi.
Muhwezi: I made the trips. It was for six days.
Mungherera: Look at the receipts he (PA) tendered in for fuel. For the Jinja, Kampala, Mukono, Kamuli trip of 5-12 April he tendered in a May receipt. When you sit on the desk you can write any receipt. The areas in Kanungu have receipts two days before the actual events. The amounts are the same. The handwriting is the same. The dates are wrong, the distances are outrageous.
Kasanya: We see different people receiving money: PA, bodyguard, driver, reporter, isn’t it necessary that names are mentioned. It is common practice we get drivers, bodyguards. We don’t know if they are their signatures.
Mutebile: Almost all the receipts are written by the same person, notice the ‘g’ throughout the names.
Muhwezi: I can see.
Ogoola: The point has been made. There is a lot of garbage in terms of accounting by your assistant. You would assist us by saying you didn’t travel. There are exorbitant fuel amounts of sh200,000 between Kayunga and Mukono. We bring it to your attention that rectification should be done, the integrity of GF is protected. The totality of this ends on Muhwezi’s head.
Muhwezi: No
Ogoola: You should express outrage
Muhwezi: Financial accountability is not mine
Ogoola: Financial accountability for the total integrity of the project when aggregated at macro level then the political head comes in. In other countries the mere whiff, the political head wily nilly comes in. Take the last call. We never take these people to Parliament, to the President. Beyond that posterity will ask who was the minister of health when the experiment was taking place to do something for people with HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and malaria.
Muhwezi: The burden of responsibility is to establish who was responsible. I was never happy with the way GF was structured. My view is the commission should find out where the problem was.
Ogoola: I would agree with you but as a minister you are found in many chapters, borrowing for referendum, for travel.
Muhwezi: Borrowing without my knowledge.
Ogoola: That was a systemic problem for things to happen without your knowledge.
Mungherera: I would agree with you. But people said there were practices in the ministry that were taking place without GF. For example people keep sh50m in their account. A PA borrows, brings fake receipts. One wonders whether it is because of project design or problem with the people.
Ogoola: I have not got any encouragement from you to express the horror for mismanagement.
Muhwezi: I was part of the decision to set up the commission. If there was forgery I condemn it. I am not part of it. I don’t write receipts, I don’t borrow. I am as much concerned.
Ogoola: What I expected was you would take this with a broad mind and take political responsibility. You should say I am sorry I have let you down.
Muhwezi: We took moral high ground to close PMU. How can I take responsibility when I was kept out. I wanted budget support and a sector wide approach. To appoint a commission was government decision to express regret.
Ogoola: Some of the acts were pushed by Geneva to appoint the commission. I am disappointed by a leader with no moral courage to say I am sorry.
Muhwezi: I am waiting for the part of recommendations at the end.
Ogoola: These things are filthy. I have given you all the time. The commissioners pointed out to you.
Ogoola: We are the ones complaining, that here is the genesis of some of our problems. I want to put it to you honourable minister that you misread your role and injected yourself in the operations of the fund. You should have left this to the technicians.
Karugaba: We are still looking at some of the correspondences by the minister.
Ogoola: The letter had instruction to the PS on some activities including not to constitute the PMU until you return from Geneva. My sense of this thing is that the only matter on the table was recruitment of staff on PMU and that is because PMU was already constituted in an interim mode and it had done tremendous work in preparation, including gathering information on the implementation of the PMU.
It included recruitment by Earnest and Young, documentation to be used in scoring the candidates’ suitability. To have or not to have PMU was for the individual country to decide and the decision had been taken to establish PMU. That being the case, they only read your letter in light of recruitment, that no recruitment should be done, this is confirmed by the letter from Kinalwa.
A lot of light should be put on why this justification while you were away.
Muhwezi: I was sceptical on re-inventing the will. Uganda was doing well and I had at all times argued against setting up PMU and it was not for the country, it was for the GF. I wanted not to create a parallel body.
Ogoola: You were waging a battle away from the battlefield. The battle had been won. Your colleagues had agreed. Yours was a lone fight. All your colleagues had deserted you and you were alone fighting the GF Secretariat.
Muhwezi: Talking is also part of fighting. I was still talking. The battle could have been won but the war was still on. If it is the view of this commission then we can as well consider changes.
Ogoola: For now we go with what it is. (Jokes) You seem to have liked giving injunctions, we could make you a judge.
Muhwezi: May be after retiring from politics. We can swap.
Ogoola: I will recommend you.
Karugaba: Was the finance ministry involved? There would be two ministers to have a say on GF.
Muhwezi: Yes, but the finance minister would have no knowledge of GF.
Karugaba: Your letter to Prof. Richard Feachem, the Executive Director GF, was it a policy communication?
Muhwezi: Yes, that was normal.
Karugaba: (Pulls out a letter) What was the point of this letter?
Muhwezi: When they made that statement that Uganda had failed to use the money, I investigated that the problem was from the GF, they wanted the two-step approach sending the money in installments.
Karugaba: Do you agree that this was not consistent with your letter to the PS?
Muhwezi: Why?
Karugaba: You said that the projects await funding but in the earlier letter you said it would earn interest.
Muhwezi: No, no. I don’t know where that comes from. I was only saying that after all if the money is here it can earn interest.
Ogoola: You said that operational communication to Geneva was policy?
Muhwezi: He reported to the assembly in Geneva that Uganda had $200m but had used only $218,000. I was really disturbed by this.
Ogoola: But this was true.
Muhwezi: No, no, no.
Ogoola: This letter was operational. We are talking about operations but you denied your technical people this information.
Muhwezi: No. Feachem said he was on phone and could be called any time. It was not operational. It was a mandate of a person who is leader of the GF here in Uganda.
Ogoola: There was nobody to write because you had injunctioned them. You muzzled them.
Muhwezi: What is wrong with that my lord?
Ogoola: But you are not an operator, you are a minister and the operator should have done that.
Muhwezi: I was informing him and telling him that he should release the funds quickly.
Ogoola: By doing this you constituted yourself into a parallel PMU.
Muhwezi: I didn’t.
Ogoola: And you didn’t have the courtesy to inform your technical staff. I wish you had restricted yourself to policy issues. You restricted yourself to Uganda yet you were a board member for over 15 countries.
Muhwezi: I was writing as a minister of health Uganda.
Ogoola: That is even worse. You said you had no role in the issues within the country.
Muhwezi: I never said that.
Ogoola: You said it at the beginning. You caused the delay by fighting whether to have PMU or budget support. This brought uncertainty in the area. That is part of the problem causing the delay.
Muhwezi: My lord if my advise was followed this commission would not be here and I have no regret over what I did.
Karugaba: You have a memo telling the PS to proceed with the appointments after you discussed with the IGG. What was this?
Muhwezi: After the appointments one person called Dr. Mutumba complained to the IGG that he had been unfairly denied appointment and I discussed this with the IGG on phone and since there was pressure and the IGG had halted the appointment for long, I was telling them that they should go ahead and appoint the PMU after the discussion with the IGG.
Karugaba: Would you call this an operational matter?
Muhwezi: It should not be taken that I should not deal with any operational matter. I could do it once in a while since I am the political head.
Karugaba: You memo to the Director General of Health Services.
Muhwezi: This was about DDT and we had made up our minds to start using DDT that is why I wanted this money to buy DDT.
Karugaba: The memo does not mention DDT.
Muhwezi: Yes but pesticides. I have argued for the use of DDT and we have won the battle.
Karugaba: Let us move to the recruitment of the PMU staff. The contest of Mutumba for the position of project coordinator. Although Mutumba was the best evaluated candidate he was not taken and you participated in putting Dr. Muhebwa.
Muhwezi: One evening the Director General and the PS came to my office over a different matter. We discussed and at the end they raised the issue of Dr. Mutumba being the best of the three names requested for. They said he was heading another project of over $40m and that he should remain there and the second person takes the PMU job.
Karugaba: Didn’t you know the person?
Muhwezi: No I didn’t have to. But I thought it was prudent not to take him since he was responsible for another US$40m project. That was big money.
Karugaba: But that project was winding up.
Muhwezi: No, I think it is just winding up now.
Karugaba: Didn’t you know the second person?
Muhwezi: I didn’t know. We were concerned about accountability.
Karugaba: Were you not concerned about the competence of the second person?
Muhwezi: The competent firm had given three names from where one could be appointed.
Ogoola: Omaswa said: I personally participated in this meeting. This meeting was held in the office of the minister which I and the PS attended, and we disqualified Mutumba because he already had another job.
Muhwezi: If he says that we evaluated, he is wrong. I did not participate.
Ogoola: You gave an opinion?
Muhwezi: Yes.
Ogoola: The PS in his testimony said: The minister is apolitical head. I consulted the Director general and we went to the minister and all the three of us agreed to give the job to the second person.
Muhwezi: That is close to the truth.
Ogoola: The advert did not say whether those with other jobs could not apply. The PS is in total agreement with Omaswa that you all participated.
Muhwezi: We did not evaluate, if Omaswa says that.
Ogoola: Evaluate is my word.
Muhwezi: They came to consult me.
Ogoola: Why did you disqualify Mutumba.
Muhwezi: There was a mind-boggling US$40m.
Ogoola: It was wrong you decided on what you don’t know.
Muhwezi: No (Muhwezi’s lawyer whispers to him)
Ogoola: I don’t know what counsel is doing, can you leave the witness alone. If you want we can swear you in and you give evidence. Earnest and Young had given three names and this was the best candidate.
Muhwezi: My lord my junior officers....
Ogoola: Do you know the nexus of the letter you wrote on the injunction?
Muhwezi: There isn’t any nexus.I explained it.
Ogoola: Muhebwa came second because he was judged to have no experience. Mutumba was running a big project of $40m. The new project is four times the size of the other one and it needed a seasoned person.
Muhwezi: If he had no experience he should not have been named.
Ogoola: You asked for three names. You made the decision out of ignorance. You should stand as a minister and bite the bullet.
Muhwezi: That I made the decision.
Ogoola: Did you know Muhebwa before?
Muhwezi: Yes.
Ogoola: Is he your friend?
Muhwezi: What do you mean?
Ogoola: Simple English.
Muhwezi: He is not my enemy.
Ogoola: So he is the opposite.
Muhwezi: Like Mutumba.
Ogoola: You did it with a premeditated decision just as you made the injunction.
Muhwezi: I did not plan for it, they came to my office, we discussed and they made the decision. I didn’t know whether Mutumba or Muhebwa had applied for the job.
Karugaba: How long had you known Muhebwa, 10 years?
Muhwezi: No. I had met him, but he was in health and I am a lawyer.
Karugaba: And he was not in the bush either.
Muhwezi: No.
Ogoola: Which bush?
Karugaba: My lord this is a retired Major General.
Ogoola: Oh...I thought the Ministry of Health had a bush. Do you play golf? You are the captain or..?
Muhwezi: I am a past president.
Ogoola: You did not get Kisanja (another term)?
Muhwezi: No. I served my two terms and quit.
Ogoola: That constitution should have been amended to give you a third term (laughter).
Karugaba: Do you own property at Acacia Avenue
Muhwezi: I had property there but I disposed it of.
Karugaba: Do you know Turyahikayo Mary Paula?
Muhwezi: Yes she is the Rubabo MP-elect. She was working in the ministry of health before I went there.
Karugaba: How would you describe the relationship between you and her?
Muhwezi: She is an NRM member so she is a political colleague. (He denies influencing her appointment to the PMU. He also denies influencing the transfer of Dr. Rwakimari from the Guinea Worm programme to PMU).
Karugaba: What can you comment on borrowing.
Muhwezi: Borrowing can be done within the ministry and paid back. For the GF it is prudence on the part of the PS. Each case can be decided on merit. I cannot say GF money cannot be borrowed because the ministry of health deals with life. If there was an outbreak of bird flu and there was no money the PS can decide to use that money for bird flu or ebola and put it back. If there was no emergency there would be no need. It would be imprudent to pressurise the PS to do so. It should be his own volition.
Ogoola: Is there a government policy on borrowing? PS what do you say?
Kezaala: It is a convention. There is no policy.
Ogoola: Does borrowing generate internal domestic arrears? Is it a good or bad thing? Does it lend itself to financial discipline? These GF borrowing was reaching epidemic proportions. We should allude to this. We shall recommend it is high time we have a policy on borrowing I government. It is not only in your ministry.
Karugaba If money is taken from activity A to B, isn’t it a diversion.
Muhwezi: It’s a borrowing
Karugaba: How long do you keep it?
Muhwezi: It has to be a reasonable time. It should not be kept for long. I agree since it is not written. Government should plan better.
Karugaba: If it (GF) was budget support would it be easily borrowed?
Muhwezi: It would be a lot easier to borrow. He (PS) would borrow from one item to another.
Ogoola: GF in Geneva feared if they made the money as budget support it would be borrowed.
Muhwezi: Even now there is tremendous borrowing.
Karugaba: A small item of sh800,000. Simon Kagumire, personal assistant of the minister asked for sh800,000 for communication for the minister
Muhwezi: I asked him. The payment was initiated and paid by GF office for my communication.
Karugaba: He says he never requisitioned the money but he received it.
Karugaba: That is why we wanted your personal assistant to be here. He just went to PMU and obtained money?
Muhwezi: He will answer. He should explain this. I heard on Radio One that I forced someone to buy a phone. These were distortions.
Obonyo: How did he receive money he never requisitioned? He signed for it.
Muhwezi: He said he thought the GF had a communication budget for me. When I pressed him, he said he gave it to my escort. When I receive money I don’t sign.
Ogoola: We are told this was for your airtime?
Muhwezi: I don’t use airtime. I pay my bills at the end of the month. Do they say I asked for it? I never did that.
Karugaba: You said you received the money through escorts.
Muhwezi: He says he gave it to my escort. I never requisitioned for money for Global Fund.
Karugaba: It is your assistant
Muhwezi: I never instructed him to receive any money for Global Fund.
Karugaba: This is receiving money by false pretence.
Ogoola: We have information that you have a Mango telephone. You have a Mango line. You asked GF for that. In September 2004 there was sh10m outstanding. Money was taken to pay those bills. Do you recall?
Muhwezi: No. Taken by myself, secretary?
Ogoola: Paid on your behalf through some one from malaria program. On 15 February 2005 a similar operation, about sh10m paid. This was not your money but GF money. Do you remember you paying sh10m for a telephone bill?
Muhwezi: I get big bills. My phone is a roaming one. I send people to pay.
Ogoola: We have a print out of your telephone bills. Do you recall sending anybody to pay your bills?
Muhwezi: I need time to find that out.
Karugaba: Sh60m was borrowed for immunisation campaigns. Do you know about the borrowing
Muhwezi: It was used to facilitate our activities in immunisation campaigns. The money was paid back. At the time I did not know. Our immunisation rate has increased from 42% to 87%. It is a high level political involvement, which has brought our success in the health sector.
Ogoola. I agree with you that success is based on high-level political involvement. Our disagreement is who funds it. The government should be the one to plan for it, finance it. What is happening you planned for these wonderful things and went to the wrong forum. You are responsible for that. There is a sense in being head. You have your share of responsibility.
Muhwezi: The permanent secretary does not need my permission to borrow.
Ogoola: The money was paid seven months later. The example I have been giving here is that a football team needs 11 players. When you take one it cannot make a team. What you have done, you have abducted one player.
Muhwezi: The litmus test is whether it affected any program.
Ogoola: We will know.
Mungherera: The problem is reporting guidelines. How does PMU explain where money went. That is the problem of borrowing from a project with strict reporting guidelines.
Obonyo: Personal assistants (PA) are give too much money.
Muhwezi: They do not account to us (ministers). They account to the PS and auditor general
Obonyo: Shouldn’t they inform you?
Muhwezi: I know that there was approval by the accounting officer. If they go direct it is wrong. I note your point.
Karugaba: There is lack of coordination. He (PA) does not inform you.
Muhwezi: There are so many trips that have been cancelled because there was no money.
Karugaba: Another sh2m was borrowed to support the minister’s travel to Rukungiri for the Yes vote in the Referendum.
Muhwezi: We needed to open up political space. It was an important issue. MPs were given money to travel to their constituencies, ministers were given money for campaign.
Ogoola: You set it in the budget. Had anybody put money in the budget.
Muhwezi: Ministry of finance might know.
Ogoola: If Cabinet was aware there was no money that would save your PS. When did you first know about it (money borrowed for referendum campaign)
Muhwezi: I read in the papers that ministers were given money from GF for Referendum campaign
Kasanya: You seem not to be aware of what is happening in your ministry. Don’t you have meetings to discuss this?
Muhwezi: I lobby for funds, I go to Parliament
Kasanya: When you look at the general administration of your staff of the ministry, we have asked for personal assistants of ministers but non of them appeared
Muhwezi: You should issue a summon
Ogoola: Your colleagues said your ministry is one of the best. After this we shall see if you remain the top league. There are queries everywhere. If the press ranked your ministry as the best, I think they have to rethink that.
Muhwezi: Maybe other ministries are worse of
Ogoola: Why was the Referendum not financed by NRM party. It was a partisan activity since you were campaigning for yes. Wasn’t there anyone campaigning for no?
Muhwezi: To Cabinet this was an important issue. There was no one in parliament who wanted no.
Karugaba: $19,832 was for minister’s travel to West Africa and southern Africa to campaign for Omaswa’s candidature as regional representative for WHO. You were aware it was being borrowed.
Muhwezi: Cabinet approved a budget for it. I did my work. At no time was I told the money was borrowed from GF.
Ogoola: A cheque of sh30m paid back went stale. That would mean even after two years the money was not paid.
Muhwezi: Cabinet approved that the cheque be paid. I will follow it up.
Karugaba: Your PS had the information last year.
Ogoola: By the time the cheque went stale you had passed the financial year.
Muhwezi: We shall come to the judiciary to get advise on how not to borrow. Deputy chief justice Leticia Kiyongo had to travel on borrowed money.
Karugaba: The supporting voucher for the trip that said the minister travelled to South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Botswana, also shows Entebbe, London, New York, Johannesburg, Gabarone, Harare, Lusaka, Nairobi. It includes destinations outside southern Africa.
Muhwezi: When I travelled the routing was different. There was a mix up. My PA gave me a cheque to West Africa. I was supposed to meet the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. He (PA) should be the one to account for these things.
Ogoola: Mukula defined supervision as political supervision. Do you share that bit.
Muhwezi: Not entirely. At times we meet technical people.
Ogoola: We are told technical people come and advise you on questions to answer. It is clear they are not doing technical valuation. On these trips you don’t go to meet sub recipients
Muhwezi: I have gained some technical expertise.
Ogoola: Do you know anything about condoms?
Kayungu, We all do
Karugaba: You live in Kampala but received allowances for seven nights for travel to Kisoro, Kanungu, Kayungu, Rukungiri, Bushenyi.
Muhwezi: I made the trips. It was for six days.
Mungherera: Look at the receipts he (PA) tendered in for fuel. For the Jinja, Kampala, Mukono, Kamuli trip of 5-12 April he tendered in a May receipt. When you sit on the desk you can write any receipt. The areas in Kanungu have receipts two days before the actual events. The amounts are the same. The handwriting is the same. The dates are wrong, the distances are outrageous.
Kasanya: We see different people receiving money: PA, bodyguard, driver, reporter, isn’t it necessary that names are mentioned. It is common practice we get drivers, bodyguards. We don’t know if they are their signatures.
Mutebile: Almost all the receipts are written by the same person, notice the ‘g’ throughout the names.
Muhwezi: I can see.
Ogoola: The point has been made. There is a lot of garbage in terms of accounting by your assistant. You would assist us by saying you didn’t travel. There are exorbitant fuel amounts of sh200,000 between Kayunga and Mukono. We bring it to your attention that rectification should be done, the integrity of GF is protected. The totality of this ends on Muhwezi’s head.
Muhwezi: No
Ogoola: You should express outrage
Muhwezi: Financial accountability is not mine
Ogoola: Financial accountability for the total integrity of the project when aggregated at macro level then the political head comes in. In other countries the mere whiff, the political head wily nilly comes in. Take the last call. We never take these people to Parliament, to the President. Beyond that posterity will ask who was the minister of health when the experiment was taking place to do something for people with HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis and malaria.
Muhwezi: The burden of responsibility is to establish who was responsible. I was never happy with the way GF was structured. My view is the commission should find out where the problem was.
Ogoola: I would agree with you but as a minister you are found in many chapters, borrowing for referendum, for travel.
Muhwezi: Borrowing without my knowledge.
Ogoola: That was a systemic problem for things to happen without your knowledge.
Mungherera: I would agree with you. But people said there were practices in the ministry that were taking place without GF. For example people keep sh50m in their account. A PA borrows, brings fake receipts. One wonders whether it is because of project design or problem with the people.
Ogoola: I have not got any encouragement from you to express the horror for mismanagement.
Muhwezi: I was part of the decision to set up the commission. If there was forgery I condemn it. I am not part of it. I don’t write receipts, I don’t borrow. I am as much concerned.
Ogoola: What I expected was you would take this with a broad mind and take political responsibility. You should say I am sorry I have let you down.
Muhwezi: We took moral high ground to close PMU. How can I take responsibility when I was kept out. I wanted budget support and a sector wide approach. To appoint a commission was government decision to express regret.
Ogoola: Some of the acts were pushed by Geneva to appoint the commission. I am disappointed by a leader with no moral courage to say I am sorry.
Muhwezi: I am waiting for the part of recommendations at the end.
Ogoola: These things are filthy. I have given you all the time. The commissioners pointed out to you.