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Following a recommendation from Parliament, Dr. Ramathan Ggoobi the Permanent Secretary/ Secretary To The Treasury has kickstarted the process to remove Geraldine Ssali Busulwa, the embattled trade ministry Permanent Secretary as the Accounting Officer. This is as investigations into misuse of public funds in the ministry continue.
In a 3rd October 2023 letter to the Minister of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives, Ggoobi requested the Minister to nominate another official to replace Ms. Ssali.
“Reference is made to the above report on the Investigations into the utilisation of the supplementary funds to your Ministry for FY2021/22 where parliament resolved among others that; The Secretary to the Treasury should exercise his authority under Section 11(2) (g) of the Public Finance Management Act to withdraw the appointment and designation of Ms. Geraldine Ssali as an Accounting Officer for the Ministry of Trade Industry and Cooperatives,” Dr. Ggoobi wrote.
“The purpose of this letter therefore is to request you as the supervising political head of the Ministry to nominate a suitable officer, for my appointment, to execute the duties of the Accounting Officer, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives as allegations against Ms. Geraldine Ssali and others are being investigated,” Dr. Ggoobi added.
An Accounting Officer, according to the Public Finance Management Act 2015, amongst other roles, controls the regularity and proper use of money appropriated to a vote, is responsible for authorizing any commitment made by a vote; and controls the resources received, held or disposed of by or on account of a vote. An Accounting Officer, is according to the act, responsible and personally accountable to Parliament for the activities of a vote.
Ggoobi also informed the Ministry that one, Mr. Tom Opio who had been co-accused with Ms. Ssali, whom Parliament had recommended that he be, with immediate effect denied access to the Electronic Government Procurement System by the Accountant General had been removed.
“You are also informed that Mr. Tom Opio has been removed from the Electronic Government Procurement System and Management is advised to liaise with the Accountant General to ensure that there are no disruptions in the Procurement processes,” Dr. Ggoobi said.
Ggoobi’s letter is copied to among others, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, the Head of Public Service/ Secretary to Cabinet, the Inspector General of Government, the Auditor General, the Clerk to Parliament and the Accountant General.
Parliament pins Ms. Ssali and other Trade Ministry Officials
Parliament on August 29th 2023, adopted a report by its Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry recommending the dismissal of the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Geraldine Ssali.
This is on account of Ssali’s alleged failure to control the regularity and proper use of money appropriated to the vote for procurement of renovation works on offices used by the ministry at Farmer’s House.
The Hon. Mwine Mpaka Rwamirama-led Committee also recommended that other Ministry officials including Tom Opio, Daniel Kalule, Deo Byaruhanga and Rosemary Asiimwe be investigated by the Inspectorate of Government (IG) and the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP), under the Anti-Corruption Act, 2009.
These recommendations are contained in the Committee report presented to the House during a plenary sitting on Tuesday, 29th August 2023.
“Ms Geraldine Ssali should be investigated with a view of prosecution by the DPP for negligence of duty, disobedience of statutory duty, abuse of office and causing financial loss to Government,” reads the report in part.
The committee chairperson, Hon. Mwine Mpaka, noted that in the Financial Year 2021/2022, a supplementary request of UGX8 billion was made by the then permanent secretary, Grace Adong, for the rent of office premises. Parliament, however, granted UGX5 billion for the purpose. But after Ms. Adong was transferred from the Ministry and Ms. Ssali assumed office, she in May 2022, requested the Secretary to the Treasury for virement (transfer) of the UGX5 billion from rent to renovation of Ministry offices, to which the PSST authorised a change of work plan to enable utilisation of the funds.
“To the utter shock of the committee, it was established that 14 days earlier, even before a revised work plan could have been approved by PSST, Ms Geraldine Ssali had authorised the initiation of the procurement process for renovation of office premises,” said Mwine Mpaka.
He added that Ssali’s actions raised suspicion and distrust on how she intended to utilise the technical guidance of the PSST yet her request for virement was not legally tenable. The committee further observed that two different procurements for the renovation were initiated under domestic bidding with different sets of companies under the same procurement reference number.
“This is a clear indication that the procurement process for the ongoing renovation works was tainted with fraud therefore rendering it illegal,” Mwine Mpaka added.
Hon. Nathan Nandala-Mafabi (FDC, Budadiri County West) said the Head of Public Service should interdict the trade ministry’s accounting officer with immediate effect. Hon. Susan Amero (Indp., Amuria District Woman Representative) reiterated the Committee’s position to dismiss Ssali from office, “…so that she does not interfere in other investigations.”
Hon. James Baba (NRM, Koboko County) called on the government to sensitise public servants on how to effectively utilise government systems and resources.
The trade minister, Hon. Francis Mwebesa, committed to tackling graft in the ministry.
“We all have a duty to fight corruption in this country and my ministry will work with other authorities to take action on the recommendations of the committee,” said Mwebesa.
The Speaker, Anita Among, tasked the Minister to present an action-taken report on the recommendations within two weeks.