By our reporter
On Tuesday, the Governor Bank of Uganda Prof. Emmanuel Mutebile rejected an order by the Inspector General of Government, Justice Irene Mulyagonja to halt the senior staff changes he made in February.
Mutebile made sweeping changes at Bank of Uganda, with the reshuffle affecting eight executive directors, 13 directors, 24 assistants/deputy directors and four staff members which saw bank’s Director for Supervision Justine Bagyenda packing.
Bagyenda was replaced with Dr Tumubweine Twinemanzi though she refused to hand over office saying she was illegally fired.
The IGG responded by ordering that the changes be halted until investigations are concluded to determine whether the staff changes at the Central Bank meet the minimum legal standard.
Following the IGG’s directive the bank was thrown into confusion after the chain of command broke down since middle and junior officers did not know from whom to take orders which prompted Mr. Mutebile to tell the IGG to back off Bank of Uganda matters so that it can carry out its mandate per the law.
However, the IGG has on Thursday responded to the governor saying that she has the authority to direct the Central Bank.
According to Mulyagonja, her office has the right to probe into Bank of Uganda activities including among others the way it conducts it appointments.
She says she the governor and the Central Bank are not excluded from the investigations.
“The Bank of Uganda may be independent in the exercise of its functions which are started in a particular section of the Bank of Uganda Act but when they become administrative functions they fell under the arm string of the Inspectorate of Government Act,” said Mulygonja.
“The appointments and transfer of staff is not monetary policy actually we are not competent to intervene in the technical aspects of the work of Bank of Uganda but what we are intervening in is an administrative function so Bank of Uganda is not excluded from the jurisdictions of this office so the orders can apply to it as well,” she added.
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