Yesterday, Presidency Minister, Hon. Babirye Milly Babalanda’s name was dragged through the mire by unscrupulous elements after erroneously accusing her of siphoning Shs7bn belonging to Uganda Printing and Publishing Corporation (UPPC).
UPPC is a government owned printer with a responsibility of supplying stationery and providing printing and publishing facilities to all Government Ministries and Departments as well as the private sector.
According to one of the local news publications, the Shs7bn was fixed on an account in Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and it was meant to procure printing machines for UPPC, where the Presidency Minister is the overall supervisor.
We have since discovered that the alleged money was never swindled by the Minister but utilised by UPPC to buy machinery and pay taxes to Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
The Shs7bn is part of the Shs10bn that was paid by the Electoral Commission (EC) to UPPC for the services the printer offered to the former. The 30 percent of the Shs10bn was allegedly swindled by the previous management, which led to their sacking and they are currently facing court charges.
How UPPC spent the Shs7bn:
According to documents seen by this website, on November 5, 2021 URA collected over Shs3bn; again on March 7,2022 the tax body collected Shs1bn and on April 27, 2022, the authority took Shs500m.
UPPC made another payment of Shs300m and Shs1.18bn to Elite Computer Services on March 16,2022 and April 24,2022 respectively. The payments were meant for the procurement of an Indigo Machine- a state of the art digital colour press machine suitable for security printing.
In total, out of the Shs7bn, the payments made amounted to Shs6,032,756,172.
The balance of Shs1bn was according to the company used to pay salaries for staff and board members plus related taxes.
“There’s no truth in those allegations by some people. The money they are talking about was spent and properly accounted for. There’s evidence at UPPC and whoever needs it, should contact us,” an official at UPPC clarified.
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