CORRIDORS OF POWER

Mar 23, 2009

When some people are in power, they sometimes do not realise the future effects of the policies they endorse.

Ssendaula advises
When some people are in power, they sometimes do not realise the future effects of the policies they endorse.

However, when they are out, they become very clear. Former finance minister Gerald Ssendaula saw nothing wrong when the Government retrenched the workers of agricultural extension due to lack of funds.

Today, he is appealing to MPs to reviewthe policies. “You see when you are at finance, you just sign.

But those economic reforms could be reviewed if they still don’t apply,” He was appearing before the parliamentary committee on agriculture on Thursday.

‘Higher office’
Accounting officers have now invented a new word to protect themselves from politicians who are nosing around. The new phrase is ‘higher office’.

Whenever a question they cannot answer arises, the accounting officers will simply say, “it was a directive from a higher office”. However, when they are asked to mention the office, they are tongue-tied! “It is the higher officer in the lands ministry, Mr. Chairman,” they normally tell the public accounts committee in Parliament.

One MP on the committee was so incensed that he asked Nandala Mafabi: “Mr. Chairman, I am at a loss. How come that every accounting officer who appears before the committee, tells us of ‘higher office’?” Now, that is really a tricky one!

Kintu scare
Since his enthronement, the cultural leader of Bugwere, His Highness Kintu Bbalamu Mubbala, has become a problem.

MPs on the public accounts committee do not know what to do with him given the fact that he is also a the secretary to the Uganda Land Commission and therefore a civil servant.

Appearing before the committee, the lands permanent secretary Musoke Gabindadde, advised that it is Kintu who should answer some of the land issues.

But the members were hesitant to summon him saying the man had become a king. To solve the problem, one MP told Gabindadde: “No, go and warn him against coming here wearing that hat.” Hmmmm.

Generous Mafabi
The public accounts committee is one of the most dreaded committees in Parliament.

To make sure the accounting officers feel at home, the chairman, Nandala Mafabi, offers them a cup of tea before the questions begin.

On Tuesday, Mafabi said: “Please serve the accounting officer a cup of tea. We are not mean people here.” As the officer was taking the tea, the questions did not stop.

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