State House has finally spoken on Bank of Uganda deputy governor’s contract renewal.
Senior presidential spokesman, Mr Don Wanyama, has told Watchdog Uganda that Dr Kasekende must wait for his appointing authority to find it necessary to respond to his desire to renew his contract.
“The president will respond at his own time”, Mr Wanyama told this website.
The Deputy Governor’s job at Bank of Uganda hangs in balance as President Yoweri Museveni hasn’t given a green light to the renewal of his third contract at BoU.
While responding to an inquiry on the status of the letter Finance Minister Matia Kasaija recently wrote to the president about renewing Dr Kasekende’s contract, Mr Wanyama asked rhetorically, “did he also give him the deadline on when to respond?”
Dr Kasekende, 61 assumed office as Deputy Governor in January, 2010 and his contract ends on January 18th.
It is understood that Mr Museveni’s silence on the renewal of Kasekende’s contract means he is not impressed with the work of the deputy governor at BoU.
It has been revealed in the media that BoU work has suffered from cliques at the Central Bank that fight to bring each other down. The two camps are allied to either the Governor and his Deputy.
As if that is not enough, in June last year, Members of Parliament raised concerns over the incessant scandals plaguing the country’s Central Bank following the recent mishap in which a consignment of printed currency flown into the country included extra cargo not on the bank’s documentation.
The scandal led to State House’s anti-corruption Czar, Edith Nakalema move to arrest several bank officers.
The legislators hinted on the unsatisfactory behaviour of the Bank of Uganda (BoU) in response to a report presented by the State Finance Minister for Planning, David Bahati, noting that not so long ago the Bank was under investigation for erroneously shutting down commercial banks in the country, a drama that played out in broad daylight probe which exposed bank chiefs as incompetent and fraudsters.
Commenting about the illicit cash on the plane, Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri County) said what is required at BOU is a structural overhaul because there is a problem.
“As if BoU has not learnt, it falls in the same problem. The other problem is that the Board of Directors does not report to anyone and therefore, they cannot be probed,” he noted, one of the key points noted in the Cosase report to Parliament after the BoU probe.
Katuntu said that there is a need to go back to some of the recommendations made on BoU after the probe on illegally closing of commercial banks.
“Things like the Governor being the Board Chairman has to be changed; it means that he reports to himself and dictates how things should be run without being questioned,” Katuntu added.
He said that there are two factions; one for the Governor and the other under the Deputy Governor that are always fighting themselves because of succession.
He added, “The effects of what is going on in BoU is going to affect us all badly.”
MP Alex Byarugaba (Isingiro South) said that it is an embarrassing moment for MPs and the country because back in the day, the Central Bank was never involved in scandals.
“These people who are being suspected should be on suspension to show that the government is committed to iron out such issues in that institution because we are fed up of the countless scandals,” he said.
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