Govt explains sale of 30 cars for only sh60m

By Vision Reporter

The permanent secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Pius Bigirimana has explained the process that saw the auction of 30 ministry cars at sh60m in July last year.

Auctioned by Kamama General Auctioneers, Bigirimana said the cars were part of the many disposed of items as recommended by the board of survey report.

Other items disposed of include; board room tables, office chairs, filling cabinets, secretarial chairs, sofa sets, photocopiers, printers, type writers, monitors, CPUs, benches, curtains and used carpets.

Leading a team of technical staff from OPM, Bigirimana explained the sale before the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday last week, as MPs tasked him to explain the criteria used to attach value on the auctioned cars.

Although  MPs Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu East) and Wamai Wamanga (Mbale Municipality) queried the composition of the board of  survey team which did not have a single representative from OPM, Bigirimana said the ministry later sanctioned a private valuation report to attach a fair value on the cars before their auction.

Committee chairman, Kasiano Wadri, lauded Bigirimana for his managerial style and directed him to submit valuation reports for the sale of the vehicles to establish how the auction value was arrived at.

 OPM statement

On Tuesday 13th March, 2013 Mr. Pius Bigirimana, permanent secretary, Office of the Prime Minister led a team of technical staff from the OPM to respond to the Auditor General's Report for the year ending 30th June 2010.

It is not common for PAC members to move a vote of confidence for Accounting Officers, but Mr. Bigirimana must have had his God on that day. Maybe it was not accidental but a deserved pat in the back because most of the PAC members were appreciative of the honesty and the eloquence of the PS while responding to their queries. 

One of them remarked: If we had the type of this PS we would not be having problems in ministries. One of them, Hon. Mutebi Joseph Balikudembe, MP Busiiro County South, Wakiso district commented at the end of the session that he admired Mr. Bigirimana for his composure and the way he responded to the queries.

The chairman of the PAC committee commended the PS for a good job done but directed that he submits valuation reports for the sale of the vehicles to establish how the auction value reached sh60m.