Law makers in the Public Accounts Committee recently visited Uganda’s Foreign Missions abroad to do oversight, spending, and accountability. Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi who appeared before the Committee to answer some of the queries was told that it seemed the Ministry was not in charge of the Missions abroad and that’s why there were numerous accountability loopholes. “We have an officer IsingomaKusemererwa, he does not remit 803 million from Beijing, where does that money go, where do you do the ...? There was a case actually in Paris where we saw an accounting officer who has refused to appear before this Committee, he was collecting NTR for visa forms, he was not issuing receipts, he would use the money as it comes and he was almost the same signatory to the account.”

Uganda’s Mission in Beijing, China was found to have the worst case of poor accountability where billions were not accounted for. “That there seems to be a reserve fair approach to dealing with impropriation and direct embezzlement of public funds at these Missions especially in the manner they handle non-tax revenue they collect inform of visa fees and all forms of NTR.” “I think the truth of the matter was coming from a very weak background and many things had gone wrong across the boat.” The legislators also put to task the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury on why the Ministry kept remitting the funds to some of the Missions yet they had not accounted for funds previously sent. “And this syndicate should have been handled in very unequivocal terms. This time round you are sending money to Beijing again, before you send the money, by now you would have asked whether the action was taken? With this magnitude of loss, any kind of action would work for you?”

The law makers also claimed that the government had appointed no tap to the task some of the Uganda’s Missions abroad. “Financial officials and Accounting officers that are busy mismanaging and swindling our funds.” “We have Accounting officers who have had problems for more than one year and they have never been displaced, the law is very clear.” The Committee strongly recommended that the government cleans up the rot in some of the Missions abroad to improve Uganda’s political and commercial diplomacy to ultimately boost national development